I used to be able to set my clock to Tanner’s naptimes. For over 7 months I haven’t had to use any form of watch or clock or alarms as Tanner’s yawns were my cue as to what time it was. My friends used to laugh at me and call me crazy for being such a schedule-freak, but I was so proud of what a good little baby I had produced. But I guess all good things must come to an end and I have to say, “Hi, my name is Kathy and I’m a victim to accidental parenting.”

The oh-so-wise Baby Whisperer calls accidental parenting what parents to do to get their kids to sleep. “Props” are what she calls them, be it a pacifier, the bottle, rocking, or in my case, the all too convenient and easy breast. I used to stand firm that I would let Tanner cry it out no matter what. But now that he’s almost 8 months old, he has such a little personality and when he doesn’t want to sleep, he will let you know.

I’ve tried to sit down and write this blog over the past 3 days! But for some reason Tanner is having none of it. He’s not sleeping and not eating well and I’ve found myself rocking him until my arms have gone numb. Finally today as my patient editor had to SMS me to see if I had this blog ready to roll, I succumbed to giving Tanner what he so dearly earned for – a snack of his good friend Booby. It’s amazing how he could cry for 30 minutes but once he had his trusted buddy in his mouth he was passed out in less than 5 minutes.

I know the Baby Whisperer would be so disappointed in me now. But I have to say that in order to keep up with all my other duties in life, accidental parenting might just be my new best friend. I feel like such a failure, but at the same time I’m secretly happy that I can provide my child such comfort. I know 15 years from now it won’t be so easy to calm him down, so I better enjoy it while I can.

Whoops, spoke to soon, he’s up again… gotta run!