Writes for all Mommies – Page 141 – Supporting you in motherhood, one little blog post at a time

Anything is Possible

08/01/201024/01/2017 WFAM

Despite the hectic day of a sick T.Puzzle, bed delivery, and feeling quite tired; I had to pick-up Full Speed from school. The day prior, my good friend had dropped off a home-cooked meal for us and let us borrow her movie rental of ‘Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.’ She is a lifesaver. I wanted to save her some time so while I was out getting Full Speed, I wanted to return the movie.

We pull-up to the Winn-Dixie where I know there is a Red Box Movie drop-off. I tell Full Speed that I am returning the rented movie, that he can see me from his window at all times and I will only be a minute (he doesn’t like to be left in the car without me even for a few seconds). Turns out that this particular Red Box was down and a kind stranger told me to head to Wal-Mart which is nearby. For the Red Box at Wal-Mart we have to park and walk into the store (just the entry part with the carts). I give Full Speed the movie to hold as his ‘job’, grab his hand and then heave not-so-little T.Puzzle on my hip.

As we are walking to the store, Full Speed keeps asking over and over about where I “grunted” the movie. I have no idea what he is talking about as I am trying to keep everyone safe from all the cars and people. When I have a moment where I can catch my breath and think, I finally understand what he means. I say, ‘Oh, you mean RENTED not GRUNTED.” Full Speed is clearly relieved that he finally got his point across.

“I didn’t rent the movie, Miss Kelly did. She was kind enough to share it with you and T.Puzzle when she generously brought us over dinner. She is a kind friend, don’t you think?” Full Speed agreed.

Then we turn to the Red Box and I coach him through how to insert the movie and we are a success. I turn and give him a high-five and he giggles at his simple accomplishment that Mom is making into a big deal.

I grab his hand and we make the turn to head to our truck. A woman near us stops us. “You are the sweetest family!” she genuinely says. I’m taken aback. I resist the urge to look behind me to see if she is talking to another family.

Who knew my clan had the ability to be referred to as sweet? If this is the case, than truly anything is possible.

gratitude, happiness, kids, mommyhood

End of an Era

07/01/201024/01/2017 WFAM

I must be in shock. I am not feeling sad that little T.Puzzle’s crib is disassembled and gone. I thought it would be harder. Maybe I’ll feel an aftershock at some point.

I think I’m adjusting well to this transition for three reasons. First, we put it off for so long and the thing was on back-order for so long, that I was thankful it was finally here. I kept picturing T.Puzzle telling his future therapist that his Mom kept him in a crib until he was sixteen. Secondly, he’s a big kid and his crib was frail. I was certain there would be a horrible crash in the night and Mad Dog and I would find T.Puzzle buried under the collapsed rubble of his crib alive, but visibly disoriented. And the third reason is that a part of me way deep down in the secret vaults of my Mommy reality; I never, ever, ever, ever (am I making myself clear?) again want to have a newborn as a permanent resident of my home. So the crib leaving my house was symbolic that my newborn days are forever behind me. It didn’t feel sad, it felt like freedom. I often wonder if that ‘i want a baby’ feeling eventually comes or if I will have any regrets. I’ll let you know just as soon as I send little T.Puzzle on his way to college.

It’s the end of an era. My little guy loves his new bed.

children, health, self-image/self-acceptance

No Surprise

06/01/201023/01/2017 WFAM

Little T.Puzzle can’t shake his sick. It keeps lingering and lingering. It interferes with his eating, his sleep and his overall mood (lucky me). He woke up today with the nastiest cough. It was time to visit the doctor (again!). The timing wasn’t great as today is the day T.Puzzle’s long awaited big boy bed is to arrive and be assembled. Somehow, with Mad Dog’s calm input, I managed to get Full Speed off to school, T.Puzzle to the doctor, drop off AND pick up T.Puzzle’s prescription, deal with an extremely moody three year old, clean-up the aftermath of an explosive poop and be home for when the new bed arrived.

During the course of all this misadventure, I also had to throw T.Puzzle’s new Thomas the Train sheets in the wash. How is it possible that I have owned these sheets for over four months and I did not have one chance (not one!) to launder them before his bed arrived today? This bed has been back-ordered for 10 weeks so it wasn’t like it was a surprise.

The real surprise (or maybe not so surprisingly) is that I’m a Mom who isn’t perfect. In my defense I write excellent limericks. I would prefer no one actually comments on that. My self-esteem is depending on you.

humor, life in pictures, mommyhood

Dancing Socks

05/01/201023/01/2017 WFAM

I have obviously not been performing at my normal peak Mommy-level. Here are a couple techniques that I have utilized to get me through until my optimum health returns.

If your child refuses to wear plain looking socks because they have become accustomed to socks with their favorite Disney movie characters on them, it is your job to exaggerate the plain socks unique qualities.

T.Puzzle has an abundance of Lightning McQueen socks and his personal laundress (me) has fallen behind on keeping them clean. Today, he had to wear plain ol’ navy and white socks. I told them they were his ‘basketball’ socks and they were ‘supercool’. It worked. Socks with stripes are ‘racing’ ones, green socks are ‘army’ ones and so on and so forth. For whatever the reason, works like a charm.

As for keeping Full Speed entertained while he was home for the holiday and being unable to get out as much as we wanted due to all our assorted illnesses, towards the end, we hit kind of a wall. He would insist on watching a program and then five minutes into it start kicking his brother, jump on the sofa or elbow me in the ribcage (purportedly on accident).

The show that ended up keeping him riveted to his seat? A fitness program Mad Dog had read about and DVRed for me. I honestly don’t think it was the fitness instruction that kept his attention. Could it be the spandex or the incredibly fit women wearing the spandex? I didn’t care, it gave us some peace. Apparently five year old boys love womens’ fitness television shows.