Monday, July 21, 2014

I'll never be that mom...

I've come to terms with a few things in my life as Ollie's mom over the past 29 months (don't you hate when people still use months to describe their child's age when they are toddlers?) For instance I've literally heard someone say "my son is 36 months".... Ummm, we're not talking about the life of your car loan, he is a human - just say 3.  Thanks.

Anyway,  summer is here and Ollie is fully ready with his stunning summer wardrobe filled with Jcrew polos and Hanna Andersson board shorts and rash guards.  He literally looks like a mini college kid and I love it.  I, on the other hand, am struggling.  In an attempt to put together a cute summer look, I wore a new v-neck tissue tee and lululemons (aka: my uniform).  However today, was different- I was freshly showered, had earrings & perfume on and was determined to look cute.  Soooo how do you achieve this?  Throw a scarf into the mix!  So, I put on a lightweight pink chevron print scarf and I felt good. 

Cut to the walk down the main drag on the way to the playground where there happens to be quite a nice breeze.  The scarf is not staying on and wrapping awkwardly around my neck, then flying halfway off, which is creating quite the disheveled look.  Hashtag Fail.  This scarf is representative of my life!! It's at this point that I realize: I'm just never gonna be that mom.  And so a blog post was born:

*I'll never be that mom that looks effortlessly put together in white jeans, a tank & Toms.  Stained, wrinkled & yoga pants are more my jam.

*I'll never be the mom that calmly works their way through crazy temper tantrums with a gentle parenting methodology.  I'm more of a death look, threaten to take away Sesame Street time kinda mom....or give in entirely and hand him a cookie! Ha!

*I'm probably never going to to be that mom that knows the library story hour times and makes a habit of going to them.  I pretty much fly by the seat of my pants each morning with a "what are we gonna do today to tire you out for nap... So I can get to what I really want to do today, which is watch Real Housewives on DVR and eat my sandwich in peace."

*I'm probably never gonna be that mom that has sensory bins in her house - where you have boxes of dry beans for the child to dig around in or hide puzzle pieces in for a mentally stimulating game.... Or a water table for that matter.  Not that I don't think these things are great.  I do!  I think about acquiring these things often and then the effort is just too much -- like how many pounds of legumes is sufficient to build said sensory box?? Let's just play trucks.

*potty training?  No.  

But for all the things I'm not, I:

*am definitely a fun mom that laughs and sings and dances in her living room to the delight of a squealing Ollie.

*disregard the rules of when dinner time and bedtime should be on a summer evening so that we can frolic throughout the sprinklers till it is dark.

*am an Ollie art curator, who has hung every single piece of art Ollie has brought home from school in my foyer, so that we have a legit construction paper gallery in our apartment.

*always let Ollie get something in the gift shop. 

*alter my social life (wait, what's that?) and work life so that I am always present at bedtime.

*will very often forgo sleep after working an overnight so that Ollie can enjoy a full day of playing, running, splashing around the city!

*ride the carousel 3-4 times every single day, as this is Ollie's absolute favorite thing.

*fight to the death to make sure he has EVERYTHING he needs to be the best & brightest kid he can be!

And for that, I am proud.  My kid may not be potty trained or eat kale chips... But he is happy and funny and smart, and that is all I need in this life.