My apologies for not posting as often as I should! A Mom's life can get pretty busy! I realized just how long it had been when I finished a baby carrier the other day, and used Brandon to test it out. Of COURSE, he kept asking if it was his, and I had to tell him no. He was very sad that he couldn't take his nap with it, but he was better when I told him he could use the cuddly-soft penguin one that I let him steal from someone. LOL Those poor penguins didn't have a chance.
So here I was, wondering what to type this week. I mean, does the babywearing adventure stop once they start walking? It seems a bit sad, really. But I guess even though the babywearing might stop, the adventure NEVER stops. There is always something new and exciting happening in the life of a Mom. And the babywearing was just the start of the adventure. I think babywearing helps to establish a certain adventuress-ness... Is that a word? Not that babywearing is any better or worse than any other type of parenting, it's just an extra way for Moms to be able to do more and get out more when they have two hands free instead of one. I would like to think that I did more things out of the house because I had two free hands and I wasn't dragging a clunky stroller around. I had a lot of adventures with my jogging stroller too, but there were definitely things that I was able to do with a carrier that I couldn't have done without it. (Or maybe I mean, I didn't WANT to do without it. Getting out of the house is the first step, really, and the desire to do something is what really gets us out isn't it?
Okay, well, on to the adventure part of my week. To be honest, we haven't been very adventurous this month. (YET.) But sometimes, adventures are handed to us out of necessity. Like today...
Brandon looks forward to Wednesday all week long. It used to be Friday. But now it's Wednesday. Why? Because his 'show-n-share' day was moved to Wednesday at school. So this morning he was very excited about getting to take his bey-blade toy with him to show his friends. He's been practicing spinning it all week. If you walk by our house, odds are you heard "THREE! TWO! ONE! LET-IT-RIP!" being shouted over and over... and over... and over.
Of course, as a Mom, I was more concerned with "Do you have your socks on yet? Do they match? What am I packing in your lunch box today your highness? Did you finish your pancakes? I'm sorry that one dropped on the floor.... I think it hit a clean spot... what? You had homework? Hurry up and grab a pencil! Wait, where's your coat? The bus is here already???" After he left, I was busy cleaning up the after-math of the morning, when I noticed his bey-blade laying next to a single sock on the couch. GREAT.
I'm just standing in the living room, stunned, imagining the crocodile tears and the meltdown that will ensue when he gets to school and realizes that he has nothing to take out of his pocket, or his backpack, to show off to his friends at his show-n-share table. It was like I was channeling the disappointment he was feeling, knowing how it would feel to sit on the corner of a table without being able to be part of the group. My heart sank. It was just a toy, and I know sometimes we need to learn how to deal with disappointment early on so that it's not so devastating later... but come on! It's his favorite day of the week! He LIVES for this stuff!
So I rush around, grab my stuff and throw something leftover into my bag and rush out the door. I make a detour to the school to drop off his toy before work, and I luck out by getting there before the crowd. I park right in front and walk into the office. I explain the situation and she tells me that I can take it straight down to his teacher if I like. (I think she was just sympathetic since my foot was in an orthopedic boot and she remembered seeing me on crutches the week before.) Luckily his classroom is right in the main hall just down from the office. As I walk past a bench outside the office, I see one child hop on the bench next to three others, and I hear "Late again? You're always late..." and the joking goes on while I walk down the hall. I can't help but chuckle at how kids that young can sound just like grown ups when they talk.
I knocked on the classroom door, then decide to peek inside when there is no answer. The room is dark, and no teacher to be found. I didn't want to just leave it on a table where another child might take it before Brandon even saw it. No, his locker is better. That way he will see it as soon as he hangs up his coat. So I walk out to the hall, and see his name on the locker. I walk right up to the locker and open it, then move his carpet pillow out of the way on the shelf, and carefully perch the toy on the front edge of the shelf where he will see it right away. I pause, smile, and think of what his reaction will be when he sees it magically appear there, and then close the locker.
No sooner did I turn to walk back down the hall when I hear a chorus of "AWWWWWWWWW.... nuh uh.... oh oh.... gasp! awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww" It took me half of the hallway to realize the whole bench was staring at me, and I was the culprit. I had obviously done something VERY wrong. In hindsight, I find it pretty funny that I was actually scared for a second because I was getting in trouble by a bunch of 5-7 year olds. But I seriously got nervous... I kept thinking "oh no, is the principal going to come out and tell me that I'm in trouble? Did I break some secret security rule? Was I supposed to have a name badge and I don't? What did I DO??!?!?!?!"
YOU'VE BEEN TOLD.
So as I get closer, the one boy says "ohhhhhhh no. You NEED to get up OUT of our lockers......" And that's when I realized that he must be in the same class as Brandon, and he thought that I was just rummaging through their lockers to be nosy. I guess if I was a kindergartner, I'd be pretty protective of my stuff too. I almost laughed out loud, but thought it best to be very serious and respectful instead. So, nearly in tears holding back my laughter, I very seriously said "Oh no! I was only touching my son's locker. I didn't touch anyone else's. That was MY son's locker. He forgot his show-n-share toy, and I didn't want him to feel left out today." They all looked relieved, but then the boy surprised me by saying "You're Brandon's mom??!?!" WOW. Either he knew all the lockers by heart, or he memorized each table's show-n-share day. Smart kid. ...OR, he saw the goofy boot on my foot and remembered Brandon telling his teacher that his Mom's foot was 'broke'. (Not broke, just a little smaller now.)
I paused for a bit by the bench, and confessed to being Brandon's mom, and we joked about what his face would look like when he opened the locker. I asked him to make sure Brandon didn't miss it, then told them all to have a great day and gimped my way out to the car.
BEST LAUGH OF THE WEEK. Really. Kids say the darndest things.
So here I was, wondering what to type this week. I mean, does the babywearing adventure stop once they start walking? It seems a bit sad, really. But I guess even though the babywearing might stop, the adventure NEVER stops. There is always something new and exciting happening in the life of a Mom. And the babywearing was just the start of the adventure. I think babywearing helps to establish a certain adventuress-ness... Is that a word? Not that babywearing is any better or worse than any other type of parenting, it's just an extra way for Moms to be able to do more and get out more when they have two hands free instead of one. I would like to think that I did more things out of the house because I had two free hands and I wasn't dragging a clunky stroller around. I had a lot of adventures with my jogging stroller too, but there were definitely things that I was able to do with a carrier that I couldn't have done without it. (Or maybe I mean, I didn't WANT to do without it. Getting out of the house is the first step, really, and the desire to do something is what really gets us out isn't it?
Okay, well, on to the adventure part of my week. To be honest, we haven't been very adventurous this month. (YET.) But sometimes, adventures are handed to us out of necessity. Like today...
Brandon looks forward to Wednesday all week long. It used to be Friday. But now it's Wednesday. Why? Because his 'show-n-share' day was moved to Wednesday at school. So this morning he was very excited about getting to take his bey-blade toy with him to show his friends. He's been practicing spinning it all week. If you walk by our house, odds are you heard "THREE! TWO! ONE! LET-IT-RIP!" being shouted over and over... and over... and over.
Of course, as a Mom, I was more concerned with "Do you have your socks on yet? Do they match? What am I packing in your lunch box today your highness? Did you finish your pancakes? I'm sorry that one dropped on the floor.... I think it hit a clean spot... what? You had homework? Hurry up and grab a pencil! Wait, where's your coat? The bus is here already???" After he left, I was busy cleaning up the after-math of the morning, when I noticed his bey-blade laying next to a single sock on the couch. GREAT.
I'm just standing in the living room, stunned, imagining the crocodile tears and the meltdown that will ensue when he gets to school and realizes that he has nothing to take out of his pocket, or his backpack, to show off to his friends at his show-n-share table. It was like I was channeling the disappointment he was feeling, knowing how it would feel to sit on the corner of a table without being able to be part of the group. My heart sank. It was just a toy, and I know sometimes we need to learn how to deal with disappointment early on so that it's not so devastating later... but come on! It's his favorite day of the week! He LIVES for this stuff!
So I rush around, grab my stuff and throw something leftover into my bag and rush out the door. I make a detour to the school to drop off his toy before work, and I luck out by getting there before the crowd. I park right in front and walk into the office. I explain the situation and she tells me that I can take it straight down to his teacher if I like. (I think she was just sympathetic since my foot was in an orthopedic boot and she remembered seeing me on crutches the week before.) Luckily his classroom is right in the main hall just down from the office. As I walk past a bench outside the office, I see one child hop on the bench next to three others, and I hear "Late again? You're always late..." and the joking goes on while I walk down the hall. I can't help but chuckle at how kids that young can sound just like grown ups when they talk.
I knocked on the classroom door, then decide to peek inside when there is no answer. The room is dark, and no teacher to be found. I didn't want to just leave it on a table where another child might take it before Brandon even saw it. No, his locker is better. That way he will see it as soon as he hangs up his coat. So I walk out to the hall, and see his name on the locker. I walk right up to the locker and open it, then move his carpet pillow out of the way on the shelf, and carefully perch the toy on the front edge of the shelf where he will see it right away. I pause, smile, and think of what his reaction will be when he sees it magically appear there, and then close the locker.
No sooner did I turn to walk back down the hall when I hear a chorus of "AWWWWWWWWW.... nuh uh.... oh oh.... gasp! awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww" It took me half of the hallway to realize the whole bench was staring at me, and I was the culprit. I had obviously done something VERY wrong. In hindsight, I find it pretty funny that I was actually scared for a second because I was getting in trouble by a bunch of 5-7 year olds. But I seriously got nervous... I kept thinking "oh no, is the principal going to come out and tell me that I'm in trouble? Did I break some secret security rule? Was I supposed to have a name badge and I don't? What did I DO??!?!?!?!"
So as I get closer, the one boy says "ohhhhhhh no. You NEED to get up OUT of our lockers......" And that's when I realized that he must be in the same class as Brandon, and he thought that I was just rummaging through their lockers to be nosy. I guess if I was a kindergartner, I'd be pretty protective of my stuff too. I almost laughed out loud, but thought it best to be very serious and respectful instead. So, nearly in tears holding back my laughter, I very seriously said "Oh no! I was only touching my son's locker. I didn't touch anyone else's. That was MY son's locker. He forgot his show-n-share toy, and I didn't want him to feel left out today." They all looked relieved, but then the boy surprised me by saying "You're Brandon's mom??!?!" WOW. Either he knew all the lockers by heart, or he memorized each table's show-n-share day. Smart kid. ...OR, he saw the goofy boot on my foot and remembered Brandon telling his teacher that his Mom's foot was 'broke'. (Not broke, just a little smaller now.)
I paused for a bit by the bench, and confessed to being Brandon's mom, and we joked about what his face would look like when he opened the locker. I asked him to make sure Brandon didn't miss it, then told them all to have a great day and gimped my way out to the car.
BEST LAUGH OF THE WEEK. Really. Kids say the darndest things.
