There’s a Lollipop on Your Bottom
Posted by Stephanie | Filed under LiberATE
“I took care of Callie,” my three-year-old announced.
Callie had been starting with that little whine that babies adopt to alert mothers and sisters that their new crawling tricks have them wedged behind the furniture. But the whining had stopped —rather suddenly, it seemed in retrospect.
“Thanks, Cassie. You’re a big help,” I said, kissing the top of her head. “How did you manage that?”
“I got her a beer.”
Sure enough, Callie was still wedged behind the table, but now she was happily gumming the cold smooth side of a Newcastle (unopened, fortunately enough.)
Because I hope that Cassie went for the beer in the fridge because she imagined how good it would feel on her teething sister’s sore gums — and not because she deems it some sort of panacea, the whole thing got me laughing (after I took away the beer, of course.) Then it got me thinking about which of my friends would laugh about this story along with me. And which would sort of disapprove.
I guess that groups my mommy friends into two camps: one camp that can overhear me saying to my kids, “Please don’t lick the carpet,” and they don’t say a word (or better yet, they laugh). And the other camp, which thinks that’s pretty gross.
For me, if a toddler gets out of a car, and she has a lollipop stuck to her bottom, I know, instantly, that her mom is a friend. And the opposite is true, too. If you’ve got any number of kids under the age of four and your car doesn’t occasionally stink, you probably make me a little nervous.
In all of our efforts to prove our own Supermom skills, let’s remember that it’s sometimes rather endearing when we’re not. To remember that may be to regain a lot of energy and a lot of time.
About the Author: Susie Michelle Cortright is the founder of Momscape.com, an online magazine devoted to helping parents celebrate life with children. She is also the founder of Susies-Coupons.com and Susies-Travel-Coupons.com.
One Response to “There’s a Lollipop on Your Bottom”
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March 11th, 2010 at 8:51 am
We’d make great friends. I wouldn’t even worry about telling you that I let the dog lick the plates after dinner (they go through the dishwasher, geez) and then serving you something on them. I know you’d be alright with it.