There's Always Poop

I am a mom. I wouldn't have always started with that, but lately it's hard to imagine having ever been anything else. There isn't a minute of my day that I am alone. A sleeping baby in the living room dreaming while the smells of dinner fill the house. A tiny body strapped to my leg as I try to get through the warm up stretches before Beastie number two helps his brother pin me on the ground; my 40 minute workout always had been a long shot in the dark by a lost blind woman. In the shower, trying to find peace, a little pair of peaking eyes find me, wondering if Mommy is almost done because he misses her. We'll skip the toilet scenes for now.

And yet, if you asked me how to be a mom? What do you when your child is screaming over a snack that never actually existed but continues the melt down anyway (long after a reasonable truce was offered)? How do you stop an ADHD driven toddler at the peak of their swing to not drink the bathwater that you know absolutely has poop in it from at least one of these beasts? I'd laugh and try not to think about the seemingly endless failures I've experienced with a shrug. No f-ing clue.

Hopefully more than less agree with me here. Being a teacher, tutor, and coach gave me the knowledge I needed to understand a child's physical and mental development and put it into practice, but on a day to day basis, you simply must make the best choices possible... Like in those tough situations when your child simply won't stop screaming crying over the cereal you thought he wanted that accidentally went into the cart in the spot where the actual correct cereal should have gone and is now somehow tainted. No matter how many breathing techniques we trained, deescalating phrases we prepared, that blue raspberry lollipop just does the damn trick every time.

But, when I keep that name Mom at the heart of me, sanity typically decides to stick around. Dad being synonymous throughout this entire article too.

So, a quick toast (because there's always time for a toast) to Mom's and Dad's (it's capital on purpose); On the days it doesn't feel like you are glowing with love, or you lost your temper and screamed, or you just wanted to cry because you could've done better today, the fact that you have those thoughts at all makes you a good Mom or Dad. There's always poop, but we can still be a better Mom and Dad tomorrow.