Everyone's An Expert

Dear kids,

Last Sunday, we went into town because we had a free babysitting offer (see birthday girl in the post below), and your dad and I wanted to have a date night. I had promised you that we would go play on a playground, so we stopped at the snowed-over water park on the way to Sue's to let you play. I believe two things: 1) When you make a promise to your children, you'd better by-God keep it, and 2) There is nothing more depressing than a snowed-over water park.

At dinner that night, your dad and I had a few glasses of wine and a very serious discussion about parenting. We talked about what we thought we were doing right (keeping promises!), and what we thought we could do better (To Do: find a way to get "The Wonder Pets" permanently removed from our house without telling Laney that the characters all contracted rabies and had to be put down). What? Did you think that since it was our first night away from you guys in forever that we were going to put on some shiny clothes, hit up a rave, drop some ecstasy and dance to techno music while swinging our glow sticks? Oh, no my friends, we use our free time to have a Parent Summit.

We talked about our childhoods, and the things our parents did that we want to replicate, and those we want to avoid. We had a plan! We had it all figured it! This is when your dad looked at his watch and said, "You know what would make us even better parents? If we remembered to pick up our kids."

Lesson: Sometimes, it's the little things.

Yesterday, I had my postpartum visit with my obstetrician. He asked me how things were going with you two. I told him, "You know in action movies when two characters pretend to bump into each other so they can pass along a secret message? My theory is that when Laney's hugging Hagen, she's really whispering, 'You take 1am and 3am, and I'll take 2am and 4am.'" Then, the doctor told me - and I am not making this up - that I should wake up in the middle of the night with a smile on my face and say, "This is a new opportunity to be a parent!" And "This is why we become parents - for moments like this!" And if I think my partner is working too hard, I should tell him, "Don't worry, honey, I'll take this shift. You go rest." I couldn't keep my left eyebrow from rising about two inches in the universal expression for "Are you for real?" In that moment, I would have paid any amount of money for his wife's cell phone number, because you'd better believe I had some follow-up questions for her.

In the end, when it comes to parenting, everyone is different, everyone's an expert, and everyone's an idiot.

Love,

Mom