my kid can kick the crap out of your honor student

remember third grade? things were pretty good then: a capri sun in your lunch could make your week, kickball was still cool, and the only argument you were typically given to was whose dad could beat up whose. you could debate this topic all week long, and when it came right down to it you knew the duel would never actually come to fruition, but you were certain that if it ever did your dad would in fact win the fight.

i have realized lately that this comparison gets completely flipped on its head the second you become a parent. no longer is it about your parents, but about your children. usually these questions go like this, "is your kid ________ yet?" fill in the blank with whatever you like: sleeping through the night, eating solid foods, crawling, or speaking fluent french.

my reaction to these questions has been twofold:

1) i have a tendency to get defensive. i somehow feel threatened by the inquiry, that if my son isn't as advanced as every other kid on the planet, somehow i am a failure as a parent. that if their kid is smarter, more athletic or better looking than mine, they are somehow smarter, more athletic or better looking than me. not that all parents are so smug, but the proliferation of "my kid is a honor student at such and such elementary" bumper stickers tells me some are.

2) i also realize that beneath the defensiveness there is fear. fear that if my kid isn't developing like he should, there might be something wrong with him. never mind the fact that by the time two years old rolls around most kids are all doing the same things, if mine isn't rolling over and doing back flips by 6 months there must be something life threatening. obviously i am still working on living out of hope and not fear.

isaac is killer, he for sure is learning to do things like roll over, and possibly learning to wave goodbye and sign words like milk. or maybe not. either way, he is way better than your kid.