New parent secrets

As a Nana I can now safely look back on parenting and wonder why no one ever really tells you the truth about babies and toddlers. Is it like childbirth - if we remembered every little detail over and over we might all leave home and join a convent or at least remain celebate for the rest of our lives. Like childbirth the stresses of new babies and toddlers are passing. Time may seem to stand still still but in fact it is moving along at the same rate that it did before the arrival of the new person.
A combination of the natural order of life and intuitiveness seems to send messages to little ones that - wait - the parent units are near breaking - sleep an extra half hour and give them hope that someday in their distant future they will be able to string together 6 or 7 straight hours lying in their bed with their eyes closed. Toddlers seem to know that if Mommy doesn't get her hair washed and her legs shaved life is going to go downhill. And it seems that is the afternoon they stay snuggled in an extra 30 minutes of what seems like miracle time.
The complex part of the equation is that sometime parental units and wee ones aren't on the same email server and don't get the message in time. The night of the extra half hour comes when Mom has given up hope and is watching late night tv waiting for the 'chow time' call or is scurrying around finishing up a project just waiting for the 'here I am come get me' call. Truly syncing in must be a Zen moment, fleeting and wonderful.
Maybe I should have put my forehead against their foreheads and thought really hard -- "I just need 20 more minutes this afternoon and I promise not to fritter it away and will use my time wisely."