Robot Unicorn Space Cat

A few months ago, I read an article in a parenting magazine about how important it is not to stifle your child's creativity by imposing your own tastes on them. It offered various tips to letting them discover their own tastes in music, art, fashion, etc. When I read the article, I felt pretty good. I thought to myself, "I do all those things! Yay! Go me! I win at mom!"

How wrong I was. Fail evidence A: Enter my daughter's comfort item "Bowie" the Robot Unicorn Space Cat, with whom she sings "Bowie's in spaa-aaa-aace. Whatchyadoin Bowie?" and answers "I'm jumping over space rocks" and runs around the room singing "always I want to beeeee with you and make beweeeeeeeve with you....."

Ah well. Better luck next time. Right?

My Tech Babies

After spending a few hours this week trying to upload various videos of Caius to this blog with no success, I've finally given up. Pictures will just have to do.

I had intended on presenting a blog about how funny it is when babies first start trying to actually communicate with mommy verbally, supplemented with an adorable compilation of video clips of Caius doing just that. Alas, I lack the tech knowledge to make that happen.

But as I was furiously attempting this, I glanced away from my computer at my children and noticed several things.

1) My daughter at two years old can choose a dvd, remove it from the sleeve, place it in the player, and choose the correct menu option using the remote control.

2) My son at seven months old can flip the switch to turn on his little farm soundboard and push his favorite keys to create the combination of sounds he finds the most entertaining.

3) My daughter can operate a touch-screen handheld video game with a stylus with as much ease as turning the pages of a book.

4) Both of my children attempt to interact with my computer by lightly touching the screen where they would like to see movement or hear sound. This seems to be inherent.

This is when I realized...I have become that woman. In 20 years, I'm going to be my mother-in-law. I will be calling my son who lives hours away to ask him to come home and fix my computer or television or hologram transporting device or whatever. My daughter (while possessing the intelligence and technological know-how to do this as well) will over-estimate my ability to solo the project and try to explain it to me. But if I'm lucky, my son will flash me that same "oh mom, you're so silly" smile he gives me so often now, and just fix the darn thing.

Snow Day

1000 words.

Bright Ideas

I believe that children are our future.....

Oh come on. I'm a product of the 80s. You knew it was coming.

But its true. These kids are our future. One day, the ideas that change the world will be coming from my kids. And I must say, I think they are off to a pretty good start. Dr. Sam is already working on a more immediate and satisfying remedy for the common cold.

She woke up with a little sniffle. A constant and very liquid draining. It was driving her nuts. I gave her a little pack of tissues and told her to put them in her pocket. After a very short time, she indicated to me that this solution was not acceptable. So, I gave her a boogie wipe. She let me know immediately this was not acceptable either. I had her sit on the couch and lay her head back on the pillow with a warm, moist towel over her face. This was okay for a few minutes, but prevented her from her morning activity.

It was time for Sammie to think big. "If I have a problem, don't know which way to go....I think and think and think and think! And suddenly I know!" And then, it happened. Sammie had a big idea.

"Mom, I need a band-aid please."

I had to see where this was going. I handed her a bandage. She opened it and.....

TA-DAH!!!!!!!!!!!

Problem solved.

Super-Mom

I believe there is a super-mom inside every one of us. This is the part of us that can see what is going to happen next and alter the situation accordingly. This is the woman that plans ahead; the woman that carries two band aids and neosporin in her purse at all times. Her calm and nurturing aura stand fast throughout the day in spite of screaming toddlers and crying babies. She is responsible for getting us through those days when no one seems to appreciate us. She removes the stress of being "mom" and shows us the pure bliss it can be.

Every mom is this woman sometimes. Some of you are her more often than not. And some of us are just grateful for the few moments we have.

Somewhere in late November, I lost my super-mom. She has been on vacation ever since. I think perhaps I worked her too hard. At first, I didn't even notice she was missing. But as the holiday stress came and went, as my household suffered through multiple colds and teething, and as my house got more and more out of control, I had to admit something was wrong. My "saw it coming" had vanished. I lost my "organizizized". I was seriously stressing out and rarely smiling. This isn't the woman I want to raise my kids. Where had she gone?

For several days after Christmas I pondered what I could do to get things back in order. No matter what I tried, nothing seemed to work. I wasn't unhappy, just overwhelmed. The solution seemed out of my reach. And it was. I needed a longer arm.

So I prayed. I just prayed. I woke up yesterday morning and just prayed. Not "God is great, thank you for the food". Not "God bless so and so..." In a quiet place (with my kids screaming at me from the other room, obviously) I sat myself down and said, "I need help. Please. Help me."

At that moment I reclaimed my super-mom. I'll never be perfect. I'll never avoid my kids needing LOTS of therapy. But I can keep my house in order. I can smile at my screaming kids. I can carry a well stocked diaper bag. I can see it coming.

Daddy needs to start cooking dinner though. That's just not my thing.