Being the mother of a one year old is probably one the best hats I wear. Being a wife is the reason I used probably in the last sentence. Being a sister and daughter are up there too. We wear many hats these days. The hubby and I take turns wearing each others hats, but my hats, are the ones I love the most. This might sound sad, but I love organization so much that I can wear any of these hats at any moment because I already know whats expected from each. Whats scary to me, not knowing. How silly, not knowing or understanding is what scares me in life, the fact that something is beyond my control. Being a new mom has helped this fear in may ways that I am learning to cope and understand what I don’t understand and that its OK. We can wait to see whats around the next corner when we get there.
When I’m wearing the mom hat, the wife hat is that thing that just dropped on the floor, yeah that poor sad little hat that used to be so bright. The one that now sits on the floor next to the 4 legged mom hat. Juggling the of hats I swear! We try to do our best and wear them all at the same time. However, there is usually always someone or something that gets missed or left behind. It’s important to me that I spend the best years with my son and helping him to grow and learn, but it’s also important to me that my husband has clean clothes, food on the table and supporting the feeling of being proud for all that he has worked so hard to accomplish. The 4 legged creatures are just as important to me as the other kids. I tend to always tell them to go lay down or get out of the way. So making sure I spend quality time with them too. Our lives are pulled in so any directions sometimes that it can get overwhelming, but its all doable, just one thing at a time. Someone very important taught me to decide on what is most important and everything else can wait 😉
Littles is getting bigger everyday, learning to walk on his own, reaching way up high on counters and tables, pulling off anything he can grab. Opening the refrigerator door and pulling out all the condiments. I swear he crawls with authority, like a little pit bull,lol. His vocabulary has grown to words I can’t quite make out yet, but I encourage him to say the correct words when were playing. He loves books and the noises animals make, its quite a joyous sight to see him learn something new. Add the teacher hat to this mix, mom is learning too so she can pass it along to her big boy! His personality is really shinning threw and slowly becoming more of his own. He goes through these phases of being moody and being happy all at the same time. He loves as much as he dislikes. Yesterday was the first time he just laid down on the floor, kicked his legs out and hit them on the ground. OH JESUS! Were my first words, it begins……… He has been enjoying laughing hysterically while closing his eyes. He loves to jump on all the dog beds and roll around. I should have bought him his very own Costco dog bed, but that would just confuse the dogs. He helps mom with most chores, laundry, chasing the vacuum, following me from room to room. He is the best……. He loves to watch mom in the kitchen explain what each food item is, what were going to do with it, I even let him let help. Stir a pot, throw in some veggies, were learning to hold the utensils correctly and were trying to eat with them not EAT them. Dressing him has been easier these days, he understands arms up and arms down. Take one foot out then the next. He likes to do it. I let him help me pick out his clothes for the next day. YES, I am a super geek and do this because my mother taught me this when I was younger. It helps us get ready in the morning. Plus he looks super stylish!!
As time just flies by and were all getting older, we need to slow down and learn to appreciate all that we have worked so hard to obtain. My mom tells me this often. This leads to the mom hat that we as women sometimes don’t like to wear, the hat of our own mother. If your like me, I have my own ways and don’t always agree with my mom or my mother in law. I appreciate their opinions immensely, but as my own person in a different time, I can also appreciate letting myself figure it out. I don’t live close to my mother, so at times I miss her being there, but I also enjoy the separation. I mean that in a loving way. But I do agree that we need to live in the moment and enjoy every little moment in life, its a gift, not a given. I truly believe this and try to incorporate this everyday. Easier said than done. A quick funny story, the other day while at the grocery store, I witnessed a mother with one child, a boy about 5. She was dragging him through the store, not literally dragging, but her steps were quick and so quick that he couldn’t keep up. His little feet were like little ant legs, moving so fast. He tripped, he cried a bit, he looked up at her from the floor with that face, the little sad, scrunched up face. She leans over sets her purse on the ground and just hugs him. In the middle of the isle in everyones way, but it was as if they were the only people there. She picks him up, shakes off the dirt, she grabs his little hand and the slowly start walking together. It was a beautiful moment, makes you stop and think.
With all the positive and wonderful moments we take in, we occasionally need to where the parent hat. When discipline comes in, this hat is no fun. I don’t enjoy wearing it what so ever. But I know I need to and have to, otherwise I’m going to have one hell of a hellion as if I don’t have that coming anyways. We need to teach our kids respect, values and morals. He needs to learn traditional manners, opening doors for others, please and thank you. Yes and No, even pulling out a chair for a woman. Allowing that person with one grocery item go ahead of us, being able to recognize that some one needs help and not bat an eye. Asking a girls father if he may take her to a movie. Honest, real, back in the day type manners. The kind my Dad learned and taught my sister and I. I want my child to learn common sense and the difference between right and wrong and be able to read in between the lines. Discipline and structure are what we all crave, even as little ones, we like a guid to follow if you will. I am not the kind of parent to just let him do whatever he wants, I will smack a kid if I need to, LOL! Not a fun hat, but a hat it is.
I am curious to know what other hats parents are wearing these, feel free to add to my story. Always looking forward to feedback. Till next time…..Love wearing hats while gardening, playing baseball or parenting in Nevada!
Inspired Nevada Wifey 