Of course there are exceptions, but it seems that I don’t land here as often as I once did to write. I suppose part of that is time or lack thereof, but I think another of it is that as my kids have grown, I’ve slowed down on the amount I’m willing to write about them in this public space. I just can’t put all of our stuff here (not that I ever have, as much as it may seem like I have (over)shared in the past).

That’s perhaps a little ironic considering that the point of this post is that I am once again lamenting the lack of a Definitive Guide to Parenting. As in, why don’t babies come with a fool-proof manual that totally works every time for every kid please and thank you very much? Is that really so much to ask? Just because I can’t or won’t write about all of our Stuff, couldn’t somebody please do it so I could turn to that reference guide when it feels like everything is just a bit too much?

Now, I’ve written about parenting books before and how I own plenty of them (and no, I have not read all of them, so again – the irony), so it’s not like there isn’t a plenty big library out there of this stuff. But the impossible dream I’m asking for is a way to know I’m doing the right thing for each individual kid in each individual moment and there is just no book out there that’s ever going to fill that need.

It doesn’t help that we’re nearing the three month mark with house projects which is a less than open book story, so when you add in adulting and parenting and project-ing (you get my point), it’s no wonder that my brain feels a bit spun out and my overall system wishes that the magic of books and words really could come to the rescue right about now.

Grand scheme of things? I don’t have all the answers. I know that none of us do. Rather, the most we can do is keep trying. Keep learning. Keep inching our way forward, whether the manual was included or not.