Momfessionals

So, better late than never, right?!! :) Today's Show & Tell Tuesday (or Wednesday...) is all about our momfessionals - a term that basically means our mom confessionals. In other words, how we all survive this NUTTY motherhood thing without LOSING OUR MINDS. 

So, let's go!

1) I HEART PRESCHOOL

After Kate's horrific first year and surviving all of the colic, I was so desperate for a little "me" time this year that I convinced my husband to let me send the kids to two different preschools since she was too young to attend Carter's...and the cherry on top was that I somehow managed to also get him to drop off the little one on the way to work! WHATEVER IT TAKES, people!

 

2) NAP TIME NAZI

I was reading about naps one day in "Baby 411" (a must read for new parents, by the way), and I have lived by the line in the book that says, "Nap time should last at least one hour. What the child chooses to do for that hour is up to him." Let's be honest...naps are more for the parents than the kids. Yes, kids need sleep, blah blah blah. Naps are MY sanity, MY favorite part of the day, and MY time. If one of my kids only slept for 45 minutes at nap time, they sat in their beds for the remaining 15. And I felt absolutely no guilt about it. After all, it was written in a parenting book by a DOCTOR, so it MUST be true. :)

3) TV

Neither of my kids were big fans of television before about 18 months...and as much as I know it was bad for them that young, it made me SO sad! I so desperately wanted to let Elmo or Mickey Mouse babysit for just 30 little minutes a day, and neither of them had interest! I seriously didn't understand what was wrong with them...Carter FINALLY got into shows around two, and Kate is FINALLY beginning to enjoy small chunks of a few shows, and it is a blessed MIRACLE.  I can occasionally shower, cook dinner, clean up, etc without a shadow! :) 

4) FIVE SECOND RULE

Um...how about five minutes (Carter) or five hours (Kate)?!! With Carter, I usually gave it a few minutes...but he was my first child. Second child, I'm so sorry. I occasionally catch Kate walking around the playroom with something in her mouth, and when I ask her what it is, she usually says it is a Cheerio, Goldfish, etc. I will then think through when those snacks were brought upstairs, and as long as it was in the last 24 hours, I usually let her eat it. If you're mad at me reading this in 25 years, Kate, just think about all the immunity you were building at a young age! 

5) THE ROSA'S GUMBALL MACHINE

So, I lie to my kids at times. I lie and tell them the stupidly expensive rides at the mall are broken or that the toy store is closed on Tuesdays or that the ice cream store ran out of M&Ms. It makes it hard for them to argue with me...and that's always a win. One of the places I lie is at Rosa's - our usual Friday night dinner spot. They have a giant gumball machine by the exit that has a sign that says 50 cents on it. For a while, it was meltdown city every time we left the restaurant because Carter wanted a gum ball. Since I am not a big fan of putting my kids' lives in danger with candy they'd choke on, I always said no. It was always ugly. Until about six months ago when I decided to tell Carter that Rosa's had a rule that you had to be at least 5 to get gum. I pointed to the 5 on the machine, and he couldn't argue with the sign. Leaving dinner has been blissful ever since.

 6) MY KID PEES ON TREES

Yeah, I know. It's gross. It's public nakedness. He could probably get a rash. But he's 4, and when he has to go pee, he has to go NOW. So if there's a nearby tree and I can shield him, I let him "water the tree." He tells me his pee has superpowers and that it'll make the tree grow big and strong. And you know what, I tell him that's he's EXACTLY RIGHT. 

While I am certain I could list about a million more of these, those are the top six that come to mind today! This was SUCH a fun topic! Happy Hump Day, everyone!!