Glorious Freedom

Certain things we do because we have to, certain things because we want to. Other things we do for odd reasons that are a combination of both. Back when Cora was first born, I had heard of a website that tracks certain daily events for babies, thus allowing parents to see patterns. The idea is that once you see a sleeping, eating, or fussiness pattern evolve you can prepare around it. The website is www.trixietracker.com. It was made by a dad who wanted to have an easy way to chart his daughter's (Trixie's) daily happenings. The anal side of me was in heaven - I signed up right away.

After more than six months of trixie tracking (or Cora Chronicle-ing) diligently almost each and every day (save for vacations or trips to see hubby's family) I can tell you daily how many naps Cora has had and how long they lasted, how many poopy diapers she's had in her lifetime, how many ounces of whatever kind of beverage she's had each day, what solid foods she's had and when the first time was that she encountered each, plus give you averages on all accounts both for Cora alone, and compared to the other babies her age using the site. Neato huh. Except I've noticed something - and that is nothing. No patterns, no clues, no useful tidbits. She rarely used to nap at the same time and almost never for the same length of time - she does now just out of the routine of her daycare. She rarely wakes the same time(s) at night. She has never had a food allergy so knowing when she was first exposed to something hasn't been needed. She's growing like a weed so formula intake isn't a big issue. Other than having a neurotically entertaining record of her first 8 months, (ok I didn't track the first month actually) there isn't much else I'm getting out of this deal other than the stress of making sure I enter her information (diligently provided for me by her care provider) each night. One more thing I have to get done.

Yesterday was our 'snow day' at home. Between work, hubby and teething crabby baby, things were just too hectic to track when she ate, how much, when she napped, for how long, what solids she had, when she pooped and on and on. And strangely, I felt an odd sense of freedom. Who knew? I realized that my subscription to the service would be up for renewal in a couple of weeks and almost felt glee at the fact that I would not be paying to renew it. I would be free - free I tell you! (insert crazy laugh here) Its amazing how great I felt about shrugging off chains that I had imposed on myself. Weird.

So in a few weeks I won't be able to tell you how much Cora is napping each day in fractions, I won't be able to tell you how many average poopy diapers she has each week, and I won't be able to tell you how her average hours of overnight sleep compare to kids her age. But I have an odd feeling I won't feel too badly about it.