"like nunchuck skills, like bow hunting skills, like computer hacking skills"

A couple of months ago I was pretty involved in improving my Microsoft Excel skills- trust me I had that VLOOKUP down, quartiles, got it, conditional formatting- excellent, you get the gist- I wasnt the best, but I was excellent at making the charts looking pretty. Now I have developed some new skills, skills like changing a diaper at 3am without falling over, getting peed on, or screaming because it's 3 am and you are awake. Skills like putting a onesie on a screaming squiriming baby, like balancing the ridiculously shaped baby carrier on one hip while grabbing the groceries from the car, like swaddling a tired baby, and oh yeah did I mention having a conversation while wishing you were sleeping? Excel has gone out the window, trust me, that is not a skill you need while rushing to do the laundry, vaccuum, and shower during the short window while the baby is sleeping. I am sure as the weeks and months go by I will develop some additional skills- things like tuning out whining, making dinner with one hand, smiling even when your child is crying, and developing that magical "mom spit" (gross I know) that cleans everything from chocolate on the face to well let's not go down that road. It's amazing how many new skills you need as a mom- there's more to it than figuring out how to change a diaper (which despite popular opinion I did know how to do before), there are things like patience, that little bouncy thing that gets babies to sleep, and how to take a temperature with the back of your hand. There are so many skills that I see mother's around me take for granted that I think "man, I wish there was a class for that", unfortunately there is only the "school of hard knocks"- an institution in which I recently enrolled, thank goodness this little guy doesnt know what it would be like to have a mom with some skills yet- I guess we will learn together.