Just a Story

When I was a teacher, my students always wanted to know what made me want to be a teacher. The best answer I could think of was because I hated to be bored. I knew I would never be bored. Kids (even the 5-8th graders that I taught) would make sure I was always entertained. And I was! I never tired of teaching the same subject year after year or hour after hour at the junior high level. The kids kept it interesting: their questions, comments, and antics.

I guess it's no surprise that I'm never bored as a mom either. Ellie keeps me constantly entertained. Sometimes exasperated as well...but definitely entertained! To give you a few examples, here are some things that I've experienced in the past month or two as Ellie's mom:

** One day she got a hold of the Clorox wipes container, sat down, took off the lid (which wasn't screwed on) and proceeded to lick the underside of the lid. I called poison control for the first time.

** Last week she got a hold of my contact case (which doesn't typically have anything in it, but of course this time there was a pair of contacts soaking), opened one side and drank the solution. Luckily the contact survived.

** Today at lunch, she sat happily eating a peanut butter and honey sandwich. She laughed with her mouth wide open all through lunch. I laughed right along with her because she's hilarious. Then things got ugly. (Okay, not really....) She took her sticky pb&h fingers and began rubbing them all over her head and hair, massaging it into her scalp and saturating her hair with it. I swear she was acting like it was shampoo. Even though I tried to get her to stop, it was futile so I stopped trying and just watched in fascination.

After the sandwich, she had some applesauce. Ellie is super into feeding herself with utensils these days - and since she was already a messy disaster, I let her. She does a pretty good job. But then she felt the urge to try to brush her hair with the sticky applesauce-y spoon. More sticky hair goodness.

When she was finally done with lunch, I grabbed a clean rag, ran it under water, and scrubbed her head and hair to get as much of the sticky goo out as possible. Now her head smells like a kitchen rag. Oops. And her hair is crazy.

I sent her to the living room to play while I quickly swept up the kitchen (because the floor is littered with stray pieces of sandwich and other food particles). But Ellie rarely does what I tell her :) So she kept running back in, chasing me and running through the dirt I'd just swept up. After two or three times of that happening, I had a brilliant idea. I sat her in the laundry basket with her stuffed elephant Pinky Lu and hoped that would container her for a few minutes. She had this solemn look on her face and gazed at me like I'm a crazy person. So I hurried back in the kitchen to finish up the sweeping.

A minute later, I was nearly done and turned to check on her in the living room...when she knocked the laundry basket onto it's side, face-planted into the carpet, and let out some squeaky toots. I started laughing and swept more vigorously as I knew what was coming. She jumped right up, ran into the kitchen, picked up the dust pan, and handed it to me while saying words which meant, "Here ya go mom! I brought you this. I'm so helpful, right??" And then she tooted again.

All I could do was laugh some more, thank her (because she was so earnest), and hurry to finish the sweeping. I also had to keep one leg extended out to block her from getting into the dirt...

It was so funny to me that I sat down to quickly email the story to Steve. While I sent him an email, Ellie was getting into more mischief. The second I hit *send* on my email, she came running in carrying the air freshener...in two pieces. She grinned, chattered at me, and handed it to me, so proudly. I took it, picked her up, and immediately smelled her mouth. I have no doubt she put her mouth on it at some point. No surprise there!

I quickly typed another email to Steve (gotta keep him in the loop at work, ya know...) - when I heard a suspicious noise from the living room. Ellie was playing with the fireplace tools, had removed the little broom, and was sweeping the bricks on the fireplace ledge. Oh that girl.

And now...she's down for a nap. She's not napping. I can hear her talking, laughing, and running around in her crib and smacking the wall with her hands. But my little rascal definitely needs to give her mama a break from the mischief.

The good news is, I'm never bored :)