You’ve Just Scratched the Surface

I was sitting in the living room when I heard my boys enter the area whispering and giggling in the background.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“I was just telling Garrett to look at those hot babes,” Wyatt said pointing to the TV. I had been looking at my phone, and wasn’t even paying attention to the television. I looked up to see the Victoria Secret models running across the screen … in their underwear (of course) … in the snow.

How practical.

More giggles.

I take a deep breath. Boys.

My husband and I are definitely noticing the boys are becoming much more aware of their environment lately.

One day while shopping in JC Penney’s, we made our way through the middle of the store (in route to the home section), but my oldest son made a detour in the journey when we passed by the lingerie.

Yes, I turned around just in time to see him cupping the manikin’s lovely bra in his hands while my youngest son cheered him on. Luckily, I was able to grab him away before too many people noticed, and, fortunately, the headless victim didn’t press any charges.

A Change of Playlist

My kids had their first sleepover EVER — at their grandparent’s house (not far, just across the street) — on New Year’s Eve.

Yes, I know, they’re old enough now. Yet, it was still a bit hard for me to let loose of the reins. But I finally decided they should go because they wanted to (a first), and I thought my husband and I could use this as an opportunity for a much-needed date night.

So we fought the crowd and managed to eat out with only a 1.5-hour call-ahead (plus another 10-minute) wait time.

I don’t like waiting for most things in life, and food is definitely at the top of that list. But, I thought we should embrace the opportunity and live it up. (And, perhaps, have one meal without a food fight or a discussion about why we need to eat our vegetables.)

So we had a nice dinner (yes, I made my husband eat a few vegetables, too); then we came home to ring in the new year in style.

OK, so we made brownies and drank milk instead.

After that was the best part though. Our evening’s entertainment consisted of turning on the TV to watch the New Year’s Rockin’ Eve Party in NYC … but then muting it and turning on the surprise high school playlist I made my husband (just for the evening) instead. All the excitement of NYC, but with better music — for sure.

Finders Keepers

 Now where did I put that?

As I find myself endlessly searching through my house, I realize, yes, it’s true; I’m becoming my mother. I’ve laughed at her through the years because she’s always losing things; I even joked that she would lose her head if it wasn’t attached … and now my words have come back to bite me.

But I haven’t decided if I’m truly getting more forgetful in my old age, or if I just have more things to keep track of than ever before?

When you are a kid, you don’t fully comprehend how much your parents have on their plates.

Now I have a system in place to put my phone, car keys, wallet, glasses, etc., exactly in the same spot — that way I always know where to find them. And this works really well … when I actually do it. Now if I could just keep this up with everything else in my life.

Old Chapter, New Beginnings

Summer is my favorite season — it holds its own sort of magic with the hot days, muggy nights, family get-togethers and time on the water. Summer has truly become more than just a season for me; it’s a way of life.

But this year, things are changing. My oldest boy is starting school this week. Yes, the big Kindergarten … which everybody who’s anybody knows is quite the colossal deal these days. And, I can’t help but realize my summer will ending far too soon this year. Yes, it’s back to school, and the party is officially over.

Formal education requires structure, which means early to bed, early to rise … oh, and it’s time to buy those school supplies.

As I walked into the gymnasium at Russell Primary School for the Kindergarten orientation, I wasn’t prepared for what was inside. No, it wasn’t the crowd that caught my attention, or all the sounds of the enthusiastic children, or even the overwhelming feeling that my little boy is growing up and leaving me … but as I entered those doors, I was taken back. Twenty-six years later, school still smells exactly the same. How do they do that?

Suddenly I was a kid again walking through those doors. Memories of school days flooded into my head — things I simply had put out of my mind —the smells, the sounds, the cafeteria food … recess, favorite teachers and friends of long ago.

Attention to the Details

“Mommy, look. Mommy, look. I got dressed by myself.”

Yes, I can clearly see that.

“Mommy, look. Mommy, look. I am going to say my ABCs.

Now watch, mommy. I’m going to say my ABCs with my eyes closed.”

Ha, OK. What a very rare and exceptional talent.

“Mommy, look, Mommy, look. I went to the potty. Come see. You didn’t look. No, look Mommy.”

Yes, I see. I’m so proud.

This is any given day at my house. My kids seek constant attention and want me to watch them do absolutely everything. And when there’s something they want, they find a way get it, one way or another.

Sing Me a Memory

Universally, people of all ages relate to music. Music makes us want to dance and sing, and recalls memories to our minds – some happy, some sad – but always seeming to shed light on simple truths in our lives.

Sometimes songs can even take us back to a particular moment in time, and it’s like we are there, living it all over again. Maybe you are on a family road trip, 16 and driving your car too fast, with your first love or even saying your final goodbyes.

Music has the ability to draw us back, by making us feel exactly as we did then.

Days and moments pass us by all the time. It becomes easy to not fully appreciate what you have until it’s gone. And sometimes, we don’t even realize the significance of a moment until later in life.

My dad is no longer here, and yet I think about him all the time. It’s beginning to get harder to remember the sound of his voice. In fact, it’s funny, but it seems I can recollect it best in memories of him singing to me as I would go to sleep as a child.

Empty Boxes

You give an adult an empty box, and they think, what am I missing? Obviously, you must have forgotten something.

You give a child the same empty box, and they are off on a grand adventure … suddenly they’re out for a drive, playing house, traveling to space, or perhaps just hanging out in their turtle shell.

People always joke that children enjoy the box or bag as much as the gift. And it’s probably true. Of course, they will always love toys, but to children, empty boxes aren’t just that, they are full of possibility.

Milestones

Remember when your kids were babies — you thought how funny they would look with teeth?! But lately, it’s been getting hard to remember what my boys looked like without them. Until last night, when my 5-year-old lost his two bottom, front teeth. Now, I can’t help but look at him and remember that silly, toothless grin. I wondered then, what he was thinking? What would his voice sound like? Would he always be that adorable?

I couldn’t imagine what he would look like when he was older, and I’m the same way today. Right now, at 5’3”, I feel like a tall person … well, I am taller than two out of the four people in this house. But then I look at mothers with teenage boys and I try to make myself think, hmmm … that will be me one day. I may no longer feel so tall.

I wanted my little boy to have no fears about losing his first tooth, so I bought him a Tooth fairy shark pillow to get him excited about it. However, losing his first two teeth (by me holding him, and his Grannie whipping the danglers out), proved to be pretty traumatic for him. He screamed and screamed forever after the deed was done. He thought the world, as he knew it, had ended.

I Wanna Be Like You

My youngest boy currently thinks I hung the moon in the sky - not a bad place for a mom to be.

Whatever mama does, he does too.

He is home with me all day and wants to mimic my every action. Even if this includes scrubbing the bath tub, jumping rope in place, eating Brussels sprouts, or putting on eyeliner … yes, I have to say, he’s not so good at that.

It’s amazing to see your kids absorb life like a sponge … even when the sponge is named SpongeBob Squarepants.