I'm Out of My Mind, Be Back in Five Minutes
Mar 27 '00 (Updated Mar 22 '06)
The Bottom Line Enjoy the Mommy Moments!
It’s 8:30 p.m. and I’m plopped on the couch watching my 2-year old fiddle with the video he’s watching. He has recently learned how to master the buttons on the VCR and is staring at “Baby Songs” in fast forward mode. I sit there mesmerized, because it all looks so familiar. Then I realize why—the video is reminiscent of my current life as a mom. I feel like I’ve been placed on a treadmill and someone keeps turning the speed up and raising the incline.
Becoming a mom has been the greatest, most challenging role of my life. It’s a role that I have waited most of my life to take on. Three kids later, I’ve discovered that a few of my brain cells have been slightly fried, yet I can maintain a 32-item grocery list in my head. Not only that, I’ve learned how to cook a four course dinner with a baby on the hip, the four-year-old having a meltdown and the six-year-old signing/chattering non-stop. By all outward appearances, it seems that mommyhood has rearranged my brain circuits so that I occasionally look like I don’t know what I’m doing, but I can multi-task to the envy of any CEO.
David, my oldest son, is my most spirited child. I’m always thankful that he was my first, because I had the energy back then to deal with his antics. He’s the original Energizer bunny—keeps going, going, going, long after the two adults in the house have collapsed from exhaustion. He springs out of bed in the morning, with a smile on his face, and asks, “So, where are we going today? What are we doing?” All this, before I’ve even gotten my glasses anywhere near eye level.
Heaven forbid a crayon being left out when he was younger. I remember coming out of the bathroom one day, after a mere 3.3 minute disappearance, and discovering the flat paint of my kitchen walls beautifully decorated in various shades of persimmon and periwinkle blue. He coerced his younger sister in the crime, and was delighted with the artwork they created. Needless to say, Mom was not amused. As anyone knows, NOTHING washes off flat paint. Oh well, one of these days, the hubby will actually crank open a can of semi-gloss and solve that problem.
As a mom, I’ve learned that one dropped teaspoon of Ovaltine covers approximately 300 square feet of the kitchen floor. It travels a good distance under the stove and refrigerator, requiring spring cleaning to happen sooner than I’d like. But of course, I’m the Queen of Procrastination—I’d much rather play with my kids than clean under the stove. Besides, with three kids in the house, I’d end up spring cleaning every other day. One of my dreams is to someday have enough money so that I can hire a cleaning service and just play, play, play. Maybe it’s time for me to set up www.donate-a-maid.com.
About two years ago, I began reading the book Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff. I was maybe halfway through this book and having one of those days where everything went wrong and the kids were on their second wind after dinner. My spirited child was on Hurricane cycle, and I was trying to round them all up for a bath. The next thing I knew, Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff was floating in the water. I let out a blood-curdling scream and fished it out. I started to yell at my son, and then looked down at the title of the book, sat down on the toilet and had one of those exhausted Mommy moments. My son, all of four years old, came up and out of the blue—gave me a strong hug and said, “I love you, Mommy.” Suddenly, the wet book didn’t matter.
It’s moments like those that make Mommyhood so endearingly worth it. All the gouged holes in the walls, all the spilled milk, all the I-want-to-tear-my-hair-out days, those simply melt away during Mommy moments.
Now, if only someone could tell me how to adjust the speed on that treadmill…
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Member: Karen
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