"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.
Copyright 2005 by Susie Cortright.
Susie Cortright is the founder of Momscape.com
- an online magazine devoted to helping parents celebrate life with children. She is also
the creator of Momscape's
Scrapbooking Playground. 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.
