So, i dont know about you - but for me, turning the big 30 was not that big of a deal. I always thought that it would be. I remember being like 8, and thinking, "30 is soooo old!" Now, i can't believe how the time has flown! My point, in short, is that 30 came and went with the wind - and nothing huge really happened. And so, i woke up the other morning, on my 31st birthday, and thought - "wow. Now i really am IN my thirties. And then i thought about what birthdays were like before i became a mother - and how it was your special day - the world seemed to revolve around you for 24 hours. And your parents doted on you, and your boyfriend doted on you, and your roommates threw you a party! Well toto, we're not in Kansas anymore! and i'm gonna go out on a limb here, and say most mothers can relate to what i'm about to decribe...
My Birthday:
Wake up at 5 am to get the baby a bottle and change her diaper. go back to bed - until (at 10 to 6) my 2 year old comes (crying) down the stairs because she is still half asleep and needs to go potty. Now that she is up, she wants a sippy cup of milk - and where is her pink snuggle? she asks. So, i find her pink snuggle. But, it's not the right snuggle. she wants the pink snuggle with the silky on the back. So, we go looking for that. We finally find it - soaking wet in the washing machine (i forgot to switch the load before i went to bed) - and here it comes - the breakdown. so, she throws a tantrum on the floor because she didn't want her pink snuggle to be wet - and clearly she should not be awake yet, because this is a Tired Tantrum. And i look at her and think, "I know! I want to lay on the ground and scream and kick my feet too. . . BECAUSE IT IS MY BIRTHDAY!" But, she's probably a little too young to sympathise. so, we move forward. She wants a yogurt, and to watch Yo Gabba Gabba. But not the Robot one, the Nap Time one. Well - the DVR has convieniently deleted (because of space) the Nap Time episode.
* SIDEBAR: Remember when you just watched what was on the tv, because that was the only choice? And there were only like 5 channels to choose from - and that was IF the bunny ears pulled in all 5 of them. and if you wanted to record a program, you had to find a blank tape and set up the VCR to record, and just hope that you didn't end up with sound and a screen of salt and pepper?! My kids have no idea how lucky they are to have DVR and On Demand - and yes - i'm realizing that i sound all too familar to my dad and grandpa saying. . ."In my day, we had to walk 5 miles in the snow...barefoot...up hill...just to get to school - yada, yada, yada." Seriously? Seriously!
So, now that my 2 year old is happy, my son comes bouncing down the stairs. He does nothing quietly - ever. It is in his nature to be noisy. Noisy steps, loud voice - always clapping or snapping or singing or rambling or bouncing his basketball down the hallway etc. - he is all boy. So, now my 6 year old is awake too. She is not a morning person. My son needs to know where his take home reading book is and wants to know if i have signed it off in his agenda yet. Of course not, because this is the first i have heard of this assignment - which is clearly due this morning. In the background, my 6 year old is speaking Whinese, because she can't believe i haven't gone shopping yet for new cereal (there are only 5 choices in the pantry - how can she be expected to eat the same cereal more than once a week?) - and i am trying to block it out because i dont necessarily want to be "Mother with a Loud Voice" today - on my birthday. And my son continues nagging, saying he can't find his book anywhere - and where did i put it? he wants to know. Because, clearly, if something is lost in this house, it is moms' fault! (Nevermind that i am the only one who finds things around here because i know that just like the game of Peek-a-boo, you actually have to MOVE things and LIFT things up sometimes to find what you are looking for! Why did i spend so much time when they were babies playing Peek-a-boo? It didn't stick.) So, we are looking for the book, and i am giving new options for breakfast to my 6 year old ( how about Oatmeal, or Toast?) and with all the noise, my baby is now awake again. Go get the baby, put her in the high chair, and put some cheerios on the tray. And there it is - the first appreciation for the day - That huge grin with four teeth - i remember for a moment why i love being a mom. But not for long, because now my son and my 6 year old are fighting because HE had that barstool FIRST. Which is obviously a worthwhile argument - i mean - what would we do if he had to sit in the identical barstool sitting right next to the one he is so adamently staking claim to? And here she comes... mother with the loud voice. I turn and look at them both and say (loudly), "No way. No way! It is my birthday. There will be no fighting. There will be no whining. There will not be as much as an ungrateful sigh today. IT IS MY BIRTHDAY! You have to be nice to me 24 full hours today - and not a minute less - Got it?!" And they just stare at me.
and then my son turns to my daughter and says (in an egg-you-on tone), "yeah, Grace." To which she instantly protests, and the fighting is back on. And i just watch them, across the counter, and they are oblivious to me all over again - and i think to myself, "Such is the lot of a mothers' 31st birthday."
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