it's ok to say this

i know all kids have a tendency to be assholes and 2 year olds especially embrace this, but dang, sometimes they are not. for me, that elusive "sometimes" happens to be right now. oh my, how sweet it is to be your mama. i've taken on a couple of part-time jobs that i really like, but that cause life to be incredibly busy - we're bursting at the seams, and the desire to rush through the motions can be pretty overwhelming. but slowing down sometimes sure has it's benefits.

this evening as i was putting david to bed and as we rolled through our usual motions daivd said, "put your head on my pillow, mama. covers. covers on, mama." and i know tomorrow i may pay for this indulgence - the break in our routine - when it becomes a ploy for an extended bedtime, but tonight it was the real thing: my kid, my precious child, being precious. and it went on...

"sing the song, mommy." but i couldn't figure out which one so finally i said, "ok buddy, you start." and the sweet words flowed out: home, me come home, home when i with you, alabama, mumble, mumble, apple of my eye, home where i with you."

and that's my pay check, plus a mighty deposit in the bank to get me through the next round of how-big-of-a-jerk-can-i-be-without-mommy-completely-losing-her-shit. but alas, we are all safe for now.

and on a separate note, why do parents often feel it is necessary to rain on happy parental parades with comments like, "just wait till he's 3," or "enjoy every minute, when he's a teenager he won't want anything to do with you"? that level of bitterness is neither warranted nor becoming. we are all well aware of how f-ing crazy children are and i'm quite certain that every age and stage comes with it's own set of new (and therefor worse) challenges. but let us look at each others sweet children and smile; they are precious. the "terrible" twos don't last forever and neither does anything else. whenever possible, let us try not to scare or one-up each other, but to smile and know that this too (whether bad or god) shall pass. when my kid is being super nice, that's cool because your kid will be super nice too, sometimes. and conversely when you see that i am about to completely lose my shit (or that i already have) because my kid is being a jerk and i just can't take it anymore, know that sometimes you look like a crappy parent because your kid is being a complete jerk, too.

this story & subsequent reflection were originally experienced in august 2013. david's vocabulary and sentence structure have grown as has ability to be utterly charming as well as a complete asshole, so i decided the sentiment was still relevant. xoxo