The measuring stick? I threw it out. I burned it. It was made to calculate finite things, and so always gave an inaccurate reading when I tried to use it to measure life.—Jesh de Rox

I read this quote a few weeks ago on Renee’s blog, and I was reminded of it again this weekend. Yesterday, I spent a portion of the morning with a family whose youngest is a month younger than Simon, and then tonight I had a conversation after church with another mom whose latest kiddo was born while Simon was still in the NICU. Part of each conversation quite naturally turned to what the babies are learning to do these days. While it is fun simply to see how different all our kids are, how their personalities are really starting to come out, I am struck by how difficult it is, what a conscious effort it takes, to keep the inevitable comparisons from becoming more than that—whether it’s the temptation to worry that Simon’s not quite up to speed in this area or to be prideful that he’s a step ahead in that one, both are equally ugly.

And so, I gladly throw out the measuring stick and choose to simply love Simon—and the other kiddos who come my way—as much as possible.