Theres a Lollipop on Your Bottom (and Other Terms of Endearment)
"I took care of Callie," my three-year-old announced. Callie had been starting with that little whine that babies
adopt to alert mothers and sisters that their new crawling
tricks have them wedged behind the furniture. But the whining
had stopped--rather suddenly it seems in retrospect. "Thanks, Cassie. You are such a big help," I said. "How
did you manage that?" "I got her a beer." Sure enough, Callie was still wedged behind the table, but
now she was happily gumming the cold smooth side of a Newcastle. Because I wanted to think that Cassie went for the beer in the fridge
because she imagined how good it would feel on her teething
sister's sore gums--and not because she deems it some sort of
panacea--the whole thing got me laughing (after I took away
the beer, of course.) Then it got me thinking about which of
my friends would laugh about this story along with me. And
which would sort of disapprove. I guess that groups my mommy friends into two camps: one camp
that can overhear me pleading with my kids, "Please don't lick
the carpet," and they don't say a word (or better yet, they
laugh). And the other camp, which thinks that's pretty gross. For me, if a toddler gets out of a car, and she has a lollipop
stuck to her bottom, I know, instantly, that her mom is a friend.
And the opposite is true, too. If you've got any number of kids
under the age of four and your car doesn't occasionally stink,
you probably make me a little nervous. In all of our efforts to prove our own Supermom skills, let's
remember that it's sometimes rather endearing when we can't.
To remember that may be to regain a lot of energy and a lot of time. Susie Cortright is the founder of http://www.momscape.com - an online
magazine devoted to helping parents celebrate life with children.
She is also the creator of Momscape's Scrapbooking Playground:
http://www.momscape.com/scrapbooking Visit her sites today to subscribe
to Susie's free weekly newsletters and to learn more about her scrapbook
club and her work-at-home scrapbook business.
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