All Magic, All The Time? Maybe.

11.03.2010

Ask and ye shall receive.

Since my post for Monday where I complained about our society’s seemingly endless focus on only the magical side of having kids, I’ve been handed the pause button so that I can take a good look around and stop being so picky with what I choose to see or notice.

After my language lesson yesterday, my student's little girl ran up to us, yelled with glee and ran back into the living room where she was coloring on large pieces of paper. In the living room, I found her mother with a glass of wine. She turned to me and with an exasperated look asked, “So how was your hour of quiet?” I chuckled and replied with mock innocence, “You mean your almost two-year old isn’t quiet?” She gulped down wine in response.

Their little girl recently discovered the art of shrieking and runs playfully from one room to the next while one or the other parent chases her desperately trying to explain that that’s no appropriate behavior for the inside. Oh, joy!

Then today, I met with a girl friend who has a 5-month old baby and asked her what would be something that, before the baby, she imagined would be one way and yet, surprisingly, was different whether it’s for better, worse, easier or harder. She thought for a moment and then replied that she thought her kid would sleep more. Of course, all babies are different (I apparently couldn’t sleep enough) but there are moms who seem to have all the time in the world to do whatever they want and she feels like she’s always racing against the clock. She reminds herself that each situation is unique and that this is the situation she was given, and that it's getting better. Obviously, this isn’t something you can plan for because you don’t know what your kid is going to be like until you have him/her, but see, this kind of information benefits someone like me.

It’s important for me to witness the love in these parents’ eyes when they look at or speak of their children but it also helps to know that, on occasion, a glass of wine is needed to deal or a walk around the block or sitting on the floor and having a good cry. I say this because that is probably going to be me one day and it gives me peace of mind to know that that’s ok, that there may be darker colors amidst the magic’s beautiful ones but, in the end, it doesn’t mean that it isn’t magical.

Happy Halloween!

10.31.2010

I was very happy to volunteer at the Heritage Square Museum today passing out candy to trick-or-treaters. For someone who’s so damn unsure about having kids, I sure to a lot with and for kids. Sigh… But, I love it.

There was an incident that made me shake my head at parents. A very pregnant mother came in with her daughter of about 2-years old who immediately recognized that a friend was there (same age). The two started to play and and the mother decided to take out her phone/camera. She starts taking photos when her kid has a huge sneeze that produced a runny snot. The other little girl’s mother didn’t have a Kleenex and asked sneezy girl’s mom if she had one but that mom just kept fiddling around with her phone doing whatever. The other mom and I momentarily made eye contact (and I’m sure the same thought was going through our minds) as sneezy girl started to take her friend’s toy away which, as you can imagine, didn’t make the 1^st girl too happy. I wanted to yell out to the mom, “Will you wipe your kid’s snot already? I know it’s Halloween, but no one wants to look at this.”

My favorite two costumes belonged to a boy and girl also of about 2-years old. The little girl was dressed up as Raggedy Ann and she was so darn cute that I just wanted to pick her up and tickle her silly. But that probably would’ve looked weird.

The little boy’s costume was a monkey with a curly tail and a banana coming out of a pocket. At one point his dad was filming him and the little boy kept walking up and down the pathway giggling up a storm. I watched the scene somewhat jealous to not be a part of that kind of magic. Later, this little boy made me realize an aspect of children I haven’t really explored on my blog yet. But I need to meditate on the thought a little.

Overall, a very nice Halloween and I hope that those of you with kids had a nice one as well.