The Sounds of My Life

When I was working in a research lab, our successes were measured on a defined scale: did we perform the experiments correctly and in a way that will lead to publishing our work, can we interpret the data correctly, etc. We were always working toward a goal and had weekly meetings to evaluate our progress on those goals.

Being a mom is much different. I still have goals for my children, but they are usually more abstract goals: are they happy, are the growing physically and emotionally, are they developing into the wonderful people that they have the potential to be. R and I discuss these goals and attempt to evaluate their progress, but sometimes it's difficult when compared to the evaluations in the research lab.

My recent attempts at evaluating the progress of my children have emerged in a pattern called, "The Sounds of My Life."

First A1 loves to sing and learn, so our evaluation at how well she is doing in this category:

(That's the alphabet song, in case you can't tell.) She loves to sing this song, Happy Birthday, and Old MacDonald all day long.

A2 has finally added a very different sound to my life: the sound of silence. He is sleeping through the night! I can get a full 8 hours of sleep now. Hurray!

And R has given us the sounds of laughter. He is on a much easier rotation, so he can actually come home at a decent hour and play with the kids while they're still awake. What a great blessing!

How are the evaluations on your progress coming along? What goals have you been able to accomplish recently?