Happy Mother's Day

Uh oh. So it begins. Rowan has managed to get himself into all sorts of trouble this week. He is crawling EVERYWHERE and over EVERYTHING! And the size of that head isn't exactly making things easy for him. He scratched his nose on the "welcome" mat, whacked his front teeth (yes, teeth - he has 4 on top and 2 on the bottom) on the arm of a chair - thank goodness it was cushioned. He bonked his head on the wall next to our bed, and just as the scabs on his nose were healing away from the run-in with the welcome mat- he nicked his forehead on the side of a bench while maneuvering over from a table...ouch.

But you want to know the amazing thing? He cries for a few seconds, then gets right back into "Rowan the Explorer" mode. He's off! He's on-the-move! Watch out because this kid is on a mission. On a mission to give his mom miniature and frequent heart attacks!

Which has made me think quite a lot about my own Mother and how many hundreds (if not thousands) of heart attacks she must have endured from not only me, but my four other siblings. Mom, I am sorry for all the mini-heart attacks I gave you. Like the time you found me on top of the refrigerator when I was 18 months old. The time you received a phone call from Kimberly's Mom at 6:30 a.m. because I walked my big bad toddler self to her house 4 blocks away because I wanted to play - and in my nightime diaper too. That was surely embarrassing, and I'm sorry. Sorry for all the times I fell asleep with gum in my mouth and woke you up to help me get it out of my hair (hooray for peanut butter and its tricky gum removing properties!) Oh - and I'm really sorry for swallowing that quarter when I was 8, and that you and I had to spend a long night in the ER, and that a 25 cent piece of metal turned into a couple thousand dollars, and I know you really wanted to spend that money on something other than getting a lodged coin out of your kid's throat......I think my list will stop right here.

Not only am I sorry, I'm also really grateful. Grateful for a mother who helped me along my way. I just know you pulled me lovingly off the top of that refrigerator and I can just see you gently convincing me not to do it again.....but if you had to use force instead, I totally understand. Thank you for using force to keep me safe! You were a Mom with lots of disciplinary tricks up your sleeve, and now I get to use them on my own son. A son who is already keeping me on my toes. Thank goodness our fridge is surrounded by built in cabinets...

Happy Mother's day to all the mom's out there. And if you're a kid, I hope you give your Mother an extra tight squeeze today. And maybe give her a piece of chocolate every time you remember a dopey kid stunt you pulled - I'm sure she'd really appreciate that too!