Rolling With It

you can choose to freak or smile 

There's a dark and a troubled side of life;
There's a bright and a sunny side, too;
Tho' we meet with the darkness and strife,
The sunny side we also may view.

Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side,
Keep on the sunny side of life;
It will help us ev'ry day, it will brighten all the way,
If we keep on the sunny side of life.

Tho' the storm in its fury break today,
Crushing hopes that we cherished so dear,
Storm and cloud will in time pass away,
The sun again will shine bright and clear.
Let us greet with a song of hope each day,
Tho' the moments be cloudy or fair;
Let us trust in our Savior alway,
Who keepeth everyone in His care.

-Ada Blenkhorn

if there’s one resounding lesson i’ve learned from being a mom for a little under 2 years its that you just have to roll with it. yeah, I’ll admit it, this new realization probably has something to do with the Stress Multivitamin my mother-in-law recently bought me (I get the message, thanks mom).   you can’t cling too tightly to the way you were and you shouldn’t try to be something you’re just never going to be.  for instance: I will never ever again be a size 2.  Dukan diet or not.  and i am never going to buy a jogger stroller and join the running club like the other fit mom’s I see around my ‘hood.  the likelihood of that is akin to me taking up heli-skiing. Um...no.

i’m now almost totally okay with going out into public spaces with smears of food from Charlie’s mouth or fingers on something I’m wearing or in my hair (peanut butter makes a fine pomade).  actually, if I remember to brush my hair and put on earrings that is a bonus.  because gradually, I think my priorities have shifted from me at the epicenter of it all to someone much more important, my son.  sure i have bitter days where I long to sleep in, or be uninterrupted while I surf the net or go shopping at a regular pace instead of Operation: buy a perfectly fitting swimsuit without trying it on and without having a 22 month old a) hide under a rack in a department store or b) scream his head off.  I do miss them, but i’m getting used to la vie nouvelle.

yes, there are puffy stickers all over my couch cushions.  all the cloth napkins that were folded nicely in the linen drawer are now the comforters and duvets of all of charlie’s stuffed animals, and the contents of my pantry are lined up (railroad-style) along the floor tiles of my kitchen (Thomas the Tank Engine is a very useful engine - he can pull 9 chicken stock bouillon cubes at a time!)  these may seem like annoyances but really they’re all just signs that my child is gifted and a divergent thinker.

today at a local pancake house we sat and shared a plate of kiddie cakes and after each bite charlie decided he’d share one with the floor. “Dit” he’d say (his version of “dirty”)  “That’s right.  It IS dirty when you throw pancakes on the floor.  So why do you keep doing it?” I asked, smiling sheepishly at the tsking waitress.  “Ants.” Charlie replied as he pointed out a small black ant crawling across the table.  “Ants yike syr-dup”.  See? He’s not only creative, but also concerned with the surrounding habitat.  Pests or not.  I left the last bit of pancake there for our friends before paying the cheque.