The joys of parenthood

There are so many moments as a parent that you look forward to with great joy: first steps, first word, first tooth, riding a bike, going to school on the bus.  Those are the moments and milestones the books prepare us for, the Kodak moments, the stuff of Nescafe commercials and Hallmark cards.

There are tons of other moments that no one prepares us for, like the first time your child tiptoes quietly through the house, past the bathroom, into your room so she can throw up on you while you’re fast asleep.  Or those times when you’ve got guests over and your child strips naked, jumps up on a box, slaps her butt and sings her brand new song, “This is My ButtyButt.”  As they get older, you can enjoy the first time she stuffs the top of her swimsuit with socks for a summer camp field trip, or the first time you get a call from the principal because your child shoved another child face first down a hill (“but he asked me to, he said he wanted to be a bobsledder”).

And this morning, another magical moment:  removing the love-seat cushions to vacuum, only to find a stash of Halloween candy layered under the cushions…gummy Lifesavers, Reese’s Cups, Dubble Bubble…all stored for winter under my cushions…and all sat upon and smushed for the last month.  Items had to be scraped off the cushions and the couch with a butter knife in their melty disarray.  I had wondered where the Halloween candy went, but thought back to my own childhood, when I would stash it in a drawer and ration it out for a month or more, so I didn’t worry.

Of course, when I asked MiniMe about it, she said she had no idea who did it.  There is a potential speck of truth to her words, since herds of other people’s children reside at my home every weekend and do all manner of insane things.  I didn’t give MiniMe a hard time, I just gave her a butter knife and invited her to join in on the scraping fun and the beautiful memories we were creating…ahhh, the magic.

 Happy Thanksgiving, ya’ll…