The "R" Word

I thought we'd be able to escape it. I knew it happened to other families, other children. But I thought we'd be OK. Caylah was so excited for Caden's arrival. After a week with him, however, things began to change. We began to experience the dreaded "R" word.

Regression.

All of a sudden, the sippy cup was ditched for a bottle. Caden's changing table downstairs was a desirous place for Caylah to be. And a girl who never used a blankie was now attached to her baby brother's. My personal favorite was her climbing into the Pack 'n' Play that was sized for her own baby doll.

It's classic, I guess. She looks at this new intrusion on all of her attention, and decides that she needs to do the same things that he's doing in order to gain her rightful status as queen of the household again.

So far, our statements of "Oh, Caylah, that's for babies," and, "Don't you want to be a big girl" have been patently ignored. She seems intent on acting in ways that we thought she'd outgrown.

All of this seems absurd, until I remember that my journey as a dad isn't without some regressions of my own. I still choose to veg in front of the TV and not to engage with my family at times, even though I know that I'm supposed to have outgrown that. I still spend time worrying we'll never get through the "up all night" phase, even though that was an old worry we had with Caylah, too, and that phase passed quickly. And I still wonder if we can make it all work financially, even though God has shown me time and time again that He is going to take care of us.

Regression is a natural part of progression, it seems. Every once in a while the step back happens, whether it's after two, three or ten steps forward. As long as the overall movement is forward, then I'm still going to be headed in the right direction.

Now if I can just get Caylah out of that darn Pack 'n' Play...


What classic ways have your kids shown signs of regression?
How have you kept from regressing in your own journey as a dad?