Three generations Under One Roof

I've been reunited with my parents for one week now. There are many lovely aspects to this, such as unconditional love and support and good healthy home cooking, as well as a willing and capable babysitter, i find myself struggling to maintain my strength of intuition regarding what is called 'attachment parenting'. The universe is conspiring to challenge me!

First it started with a stroller. I've been carrying him thru backpain and into a strong body, and my mom was like 'give yourself a break!' and, i thought... okay, i'll try it out. She bought a Britax carseat companion thing, where i could just put the carseat. Thankfiully it broke in the plane ride and the airline is going to give much more money than waht my mom paid for it. So it worked out. The roads here in mexico aren't stroller friendly anyway. Lugging the broken thing around was awkward and embarrassing.

Second, co-sleeping. They bought me a tent. I thought it was going to be a small, portable bed but its really big and fit for a six year old. He's certainly not ready to be sleeping alone and so its set up, ready to be used, but probably not going to be used as he's still sleeping and suckling with me. And i love it.

"Let him cry!" or "Don't be so..." not overbearing, but he couldn't think of the word either... "concerned"? Its sort of irritating to be told by my parents not to bother when my child is upset, or in the process of getting upset.

But what I then tell myself is that "Its okay that I understand my child the best. I guess I really am the only person in the world that can do this specific work!"

And it feels good to remind myself of that. But this is such a challenge, to stay strong in my child-rearing philosoph amidst the pressure: "You're spoiling him!" "He wants a bath!" (a 4 month old does not 'want' a bath... Okay that was a tangent and has nothing to do with child rearing philosophies, but it was echoing and fresh in my consciousness.

Despite it all, (back to appreciation and gratitude) my dad holds much wisdom and knowledge and good advice in terms of where to go wtih my life and waht to do with my opportunities. And my mom is a great listener, open to even my craziest ideas and receptive and curious and interested. I'm happy to be living with them again for now. Who knows what the future will bring. Maybe i'll make a decision to really move in with them, or maybe i'll make the decision to embark on my own and become a permanent resident of the San Francisco bay area. I really do not know. Maybe the situation will make the decision for me...

We'll see!