Mini art journal challenge: week 19

It might feel like this mini art journal is all I have time to do, but I am working on other projects!
This week's prompt: "Surprise"
It took me a couple of days to decide exactly what to do and how... although it doesn't appear on the card!
As far as surprises go, I'm sure any parent will agree with me they happen everyday with kids, good or bad ones. This whole parenthood thing has been a huge learning curve for me, in a good way. I came across the words attachment parenting and wondered what it meant. Then realized I was following that path already. This card is dedicated to the philosophy behind the words. My biggest surprise was to discover that my preconceptions of babies, children and parenthood felt wrong. I thought being too lenient would only turn a child into a cry baby or a tantrum monster, I thought all babies slept through the night at 6 months and were meant to go to childcare, I thought breastfeeding past 6 months never happened, I thought births in hospital were the way to go. I thought all that then, surprise, I thought differently!
I am lucky to know quite a few mums who share the same philosophy. Some have older kids, brought up attachment parenting style. They are no different than other kids their age, they are independent, sociable, polite, quite normal really. And I've been watching Tahi, recently he's opened up to the world. A few months ago, Tahi would stick to me wherever we went, turn shy as soon someone would talk to him, want to breastfeed for any reason (unsafe, hurt, bored). Two days ago he was running around a hardware store saying "hello" to anyone he met. He's started going up to people at our playcentre and chatting to them. He just seems more confident. And it's great to see that he has got there himself. Maybe later than most, but he has nonetheless. When I see all these little steps my boy takes on his own, it makes me proud and give me confidence that he will achieve all those "steps" in his own time. Hopefully sleeping through the night is next!

Words cut out from a magazine, fabric hearts cut out with pinking scissors (my top op shop find of the week!) then sewn onto the card. The words attachment parenting were pasted on last.