Neighborhood-Kids All Local. All for Kids. All the Time.

Yesterday I sent Clara to daycare without her shoes. When I picked her up, I idly wondered what they had done with her shoes... then I realized I never actually put them on her feet in the first place. But they'd been too kind to say anything (I think I may have had that crazy-mom look, you know the one).

And we forgot to brush Joy's teeth before school. So she learned about the magic properties of Tic Tacs (besides being only one calorie).

Then I left Clara's medicine out overnight. The one that says KEEP REFRIGERATED in bold black letters on the front.

I occasionally wonder where the parent police are, and why they haven't stopped by to at least give me a pink warning ticket? But so far I seem to be operating beneath their radar...

------------
Cross-posted from singlesupermama.com

I know it's not a unique experience to me; being a mom who is experiencing her own growing pains as she watches her little girl grow up. But it doesn't seem to make it any easier.

Just over one year ago, Joy started kindergarten. Each day brought new anxieties about how school would start and end, and what would happen in the middle. Either her dad or I would walk her all the way to her classroom, and wait inside the room until the first bell rang and the teacher arrived. She was often ready with the "class teddy bear" for Joy to hold. There were days that Joy cried during lunchtime, saying she just wanted her mom. I thought my heart was going to break then.

And now, she's almost done with first grade. I drop her off outside of school, where her friends are waiting for her. And this morning, she forgot to give me a kiss as she passed - she had already seen her group of 3 little girl friends by the bike stands and was running towards them as she hollered back, "LOVE YOU TOO, MOM!"

------------
Cross-posted from singlesupermama.com

The other night, Joy's best friends came over for dinner and playtime. They stayed until bedtime - so by the time they left, it was time to get straight into pajamas and ready for bed. When I had to break the news to Joy that there wouldn't be time for "puter games", hell ensued in a big, bad way.

But mooooom! I really waaaant to! I haaaave to play puter games! I'll give you whatever you want, pleeeeease!

And when my response was, "Joy - you'd better be in your pajamas with your teeth brushed by the time I get back from taking the trash out," she proceeded to stick her head out our front door at 8PM and yell at the top of her lungs: "MOM! YOU HAVE RUINED MY WHOLE ENTIRE DAY!"

The deal I have made with my plants is this: if they will just survive, just limp through, until my youngest is 5 years old, I promise that I will take better care of them than any other plant on the block. They will be blessed. They will be green, overflowing, plentiful, abundant. They won't regret it. Just survive a little longer, pleeeease.

How do people swing this parenting gig and keep pets alive?

When I had my first baby, I went to one of my first mommy's health check-ups. The doctors basically look at your most private parts as though they were as uninteresting as your nose, and ask you questions so personal your own husband wouldn't have the guts to ask you.

One of the questions that stands out for me was, "do you rush when you use the toilet?" Are you serious?, I remember thinking. Do you have anyidea what it's like to be a mom? I wash the bathroom while I'm using it. Like, I scrub the sink while I'm peeing. Of course I rush while I'm using the toilet. Duh.