Thursday, February 11, 2010

6

I was tagged. I will oblige.

Quirks? (First, it always makes me smile a little to be asked to tell strange things about myself to the wide wide world. It's like being asked in an interview to talk about your faults. You always talk about things like working too hard, not things like, I'm ten minutes late everywhere I go. I'm not going to post actual really for real strange things about myself on the internet, and neither are you. But here are six partially interesting minimally embarrassing things about myself. You're welcome.)

1. My very most favorite flavor of anything in the world is the first sip of coffee in the morning. Fresh coffee before 7 a.m. is just ... perfect. It tastes like a fresh start. I love the way our days begin.

2. The amount of time I spend talking about heavy machinery each day always surprises me. It's safe to say Asher is obsessed with construction equipment right now. Though that's his quirk, not mine. My quirk is the amount of attention I give to it - I'm learning quite a bit about front scoopers and back scoopers and Double Duty. As an aside, I totally thought he had fabricated Double Duty - "He gets the job done!" - until today, when I finally found the scene he's been talking about for weeks on the menu on the DVD. It turns out he's been talking about a commercial for a toy that he must have seen at his grandma's, because when it was over, he looked at me and said very earnestly, "Paw-paw and Santa are going to buy them for me." And even though Santa doesn't come to our house, who am I to argue with that earnest little face? Back to quirks.

3. I am not even a tiny bit annoyed by this song.

4. I love my little part-time job more than seems reasonable. And it's not because I'm looking for an escape from my kids, it's because I love the actual work. They're forecasting snow tomorrow and I'm plotting ways to work even if Asher's preschool is closed, partially because rescheduling childcare is so difficult, but mostly because I just love my job.

5. The high hasn't broken 45* all week, and we went swimming this morning. It was an indoor heated toddler pool (I would love to shake the hand of the person who decided to heat and enclose the toddler pool at the Y, because that was such a good call), so it was really only cold going to and from the pool area. And the kids got to burn off some of their winter energy (they both took the afternoon nap to prove it). I know that's not a really for real quirky thing, but I felt pretty - odd, packing sandwiches and swimming trunks, and walking into the Y in winter coats and sweaters. It FELT quirky, anyway.

6. But this one is real: I've begun to realize that I don't care about the same things other mothers care about. I don't care if my kids dump out all the blocks to find just the right piece to be the top of the building (so the crane can knock it down, of course). I don't mind finger paints or Play Doh (within parameters), I don't care if sandbox sand gets carted around the back yard. Messes created by engaged children don't bother me. Bored, whiney children bother me. Destruction for its own sake bothers me. But sometimes you just need the block in the bottom of the sack ... but almost every time we're in a playgroup or some other social situation with other mothers and children, another mother will say, "You're so brave to let your kids do (fill in the blank)." I'm becoming a little self-conscious about it. I"m beginning to think that's really a euphemism for, "You're so CRAZY IN THE HEAD to let your children do that." Am I? Is there a value to preventing messes (aside from the obvious value of a cleaner house) that has not been brought to my attention?

3 comments:

Heather said...

David danced to Tootie Ta at school, last week. Haydn danced to Thriller, Boom Boom Boom and Star Wars. LOL!

Michelle said...

I love #6. And I guess I'm "craxy in the head" right there with you. LOL, no seriously - I don't know if it's our laid back personalities or the fact that we have boys or what, but I totally see us in that one. And please don't stop!! I don't plan to - the energy and the imagination is priceless. It will stop on it's own one day and we'll be begging for it back.

Danielle said...

I don't mind messes either - they're boys after all! The ones I mind are when he purposely dumps an entire bucket of toys out when you specifically told him not to and he's looking at you right in the eyes the entire time - mischief, I tell ya!