I didn't realize every protest or cry my daughter made was perhaps— just maybe—not my fault until after my second child was born. My first woke every other hour for five months until I finally bit the proverbial bullet and tried sleep training. She clung, wanting to ride on a hip well into her second year. She didn’t walk until long past the growth curve said she should. She slithered around like a snake, then walked on her knees for months before pulling upright. (Spoiler: she is a grown, healthy woman.)

My second started smiling at three or four weeks, long before any child was “supposed to.” Positively grinning, she began giggling soon thereafter. She has never stopped. I know she’s in the building because I hear her laugh ring from out from rooms away. (Spoiler 2: she is also—gratefully—grown and healthy.) I wasn’t a different person after she was born. If anything, I was a doubly harried and anxious mom, as anyone who has two children in a few years can attest.

I read every parenting book, and the authors of What to Expect When You’re Expecting, and Your Baby & Child From Birth to Age........

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