I do not know why in the darkest hours of night I was thinking on this question but I was.

“What goals do you have for your son?”

My son is not even 3 yet, though every day he’s closer to that scary 3rd birthday. My goals are simple: to have us survive his early childhood with our sanity largely intact. 

Part of me is sarcastic in saying this, most of me is serious. This is crazy hard work. He challenges me every day in ways you would not expect. As I type this, he stands before me yelling random syllables and sounds. I think he is trying to learn how to modulate his voice as he’s generally prone to whispering when confronted with a loud situation. Meanwhile, the house is quiet but he’s bellowing a story in his own language. 

For those interested, his language is a lot like what the Minions in Despicable Me speak, right down to interjections of familiar English words and phrases. Only one out of all his so many therapists and care team has gotten this reference, but thankfully she immediately said “YES”. It made me feel good, strangely enough, that my insanity was shared.

Anyway… Of course I have goals. I have places I want to reach today, tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, etc. We’re so very early into this journey though so my goals aren’t grand. They’re simple. I want to lay a good foundation for him and then we can look at more structured, specific goals to reach for in the long term beyond giving him all he needs to interact with and enjoy the world in which he lives. 

The actual thought that spurred this post was thinking of J-bear in his 20s. What is it I want for him when he becomes an adult?

Frankly, in my exhausted state, my first thought was simply: I want him to be potty trained.

On that note, it’s time to get into what is one of our busiest days of the week.