Boys and Dirt

This was the moment that I realized that Baby Boy is becoming a little boy.

applauding his work

We go to the park, and OF COURSE, Baby Boy had to find the bare patch of grass and starts to dig a hole in the ground and play with the dirt! The baby book doesn't have a spot for "first hole in the ground", but I having a feeling this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship lots of extra laundry.

Itty Bitty Baby Pool

For a few weeks, Baby Boy had an on-again-off-again runny nose. First it was a little cold, then it might have been a little too much sun, then some teething, then a vaccination. All in all, it meant that I preferred not to take him to our club pool. But meanwhile, it is SO hot here (mid-90's every day). We realized that the pool we bought this time last year thinking we could use it later on for the baby, would take too much water to fill up. So one day when M went to run some errands downtown he picked up this itty bitty baby pool. It is really small but perfect for the kiddo to splash around and cool off from the heat.

Ahhh....

We only have grass in our common area and I didn't think it was appropriate to take it out there, so we put in on our patio. Of course then Baby Boy wanted to pick at the destroyed-by-rainy-season-and-definitely-not-low-v.o.c.-floor-paint. So we put some floor tiles underneath, and Baby Boy was up to his old shenanigans.

Things that are hard about being a SAHM

*This is to counter all my rose-colored posts because I like to keep it real. I actually wrote it a couple weeks ago, but it didn't seem fitting to post right before Mother's Day. So here it is.

Being a Stay At Home Mom is a choice. I realize that, and most of the time I really do love it and am happy with my choice. But there are things that are hard. That mean that I am tired at the end of the day. That I need some time to veg. on the couch on the computer. That hanging out with a baby all day is not all it's cracked up to be.

Exhibit A- Baby Boy naps twice a day for (only!) 35 minutes.
During those precious minutes, I usually do something that I have just not been able to get done with the kiddo at my feet: pruning and changing water in our flowers, filling all the bathrooms with toilet paper, answering a long email with coherent sentences, organizing and storing clothes that don't fit anymore, and the list goes on. On bad days, I'm trying to get in a late breakfast or lunch or just get dressed!

Exhibit B- I can't go to the bathroom by myself.
Baby Boy will not stay put in any contraption, so that means he goes where I go. On an easy day he sits shredding toilet paper and I have a quick tidy in the end. On the rough ones he's figuring out how to open the trash can, use the cabinet to stand, and disassemble floor tiles.

Exhibit C- Meals are a mess. I wash Baby Boy's high chair tray 3 times a day, pick up stuff from the floor at least twice, and end up washing at least one outfit by hand every other day. Meanwhile I am mentally figuring out what food group he hasn't had yet and getting things together. If I'm lucky I get to eat too, if not see Exhibit A.

Exhibit D- Everything takes longer, but the days are still long.
Doing a short errand easily takes 3 times as long- loading Baby Boy into the car, getting there, taking him out, doing my thing, loading him back in, driving home, taking him out. And that's assuming everything is good and he's not hungry or tired or fussy. But the days last so long- diaper, feeding, playing, diaper, feeding, playing, diaper, feeding, playing, diaper, feeding, playing, diaper, feeding, playing.

Exhibit E- The guilt.
I don't think I need to elaborate much on mommy guilt. For whatever reason, I just can not ignore Baby Boy when he is fussing, can not watch TV when he's around, and feel bad if I take 10 minutes on the computer. So I end up playing with/ stimulating/ educating/ coming up with fun activities all day long (in between exhibits A, B, C, and D, of course). What can I say, never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined how tiring it is to play with a baby.

Exhibit F- I still get asked if I have a "real" job.
Obviously being a mom is not my career, but the insinuation that I should be doing something better with my time, that I shouldn't be wasting my intellect or that I have potential to do "so much more" is both infuriating and depressing. Furthermore, socialization as a form of intellectual stimulation for me is definitely misunderstood if not looked down upon. I take solace in the appreciative grins I get from the kiddo and try to keep my head up.

Why it's all worthwhile

The sob-fest is coming to an end. I do like my life. I am happy with my choices. But, (the ubiquitous "but""), nothing is perfect. I have mostly been content and even enjoyed the changes that have come to my life, however, there's no getting around it: the day to day grind is not easy, nor highly regarded by others. That's just how it goes.

Mexican Play Kitchen

The Mexican equivalent of a play kitchen...is a Taco Stand!


Just had to share this little find!

Happy Mother's Day

to me and to you!

Today is Mexican Mother's Day. We are planning on celebrating on American Mother's Day, so today was a pretty normal day. Walmart, an afternoon nap (that's a pretty good gift around these parts), and a neighborhood walk.

I wanted to share this quote that I saw floating around; it's a little different and resonated with me:

Hijo es un ser que nos prestaron para un curso intensivo de como amar a alguien más que a nosotros mismos, de cómo cambiar nuestros peores defectos para darles los mejores ejemplos y de nosotros aprender a tener coraje. Ser padre o madre es el mayor acto de coraje que alguien puede tener, porque es exponerse a todo tipo de dolor, principalmente el de la incertidumbre de estar actuando correctamente y del miedo de perder algo tan amado. ¿Perder? ¿cómo? No es nuestro, ¿recuerdan? Fue apenas un préstamo”….Cierto, pero es un préstamo que llega a convertirse en el don más preciado que jamás llegamos a tener en el efímero tiempo que dure el empréstito. Un préstamo por el que damos la vida, sabiendo que hay que devolverlo. Un préstamo sin intereses, pero cuyo cuidado lleva implícito el más alto sacrificio y la defensa mas sólida! Cuida tu préstamo, muchos lo querrán, otros lo odiarán, pero para ti no tiene precio.

by José Saramago (originally in Portuguese)

Now in English:

A son is a being that we're loaned for an intensive course in how to love someone more than ourselves, in how to change our worst defects in order to give them the best examples and in ourselves learn to have courage. Being a father or mother is the greatest act of courage that one can have, because it is exposed to all types of pain, mainly in the uncertainty of acting correctly and the fear of losing something so beloved.
Losing? How? It is not ours, remember? It was just a loan...
True, but it is a loan that would become the most precious gift that we've ever had in the ephemeral time that is the loan. A loan from that which gives us life, knowing that we must return it. A loan without interest, but whose care implies the highest sacrifice and most solid defense. Look after your loan, many will want it, others will hate it, but for you it is priceless.

Mr. Lounger

A couple of weeks ago Baby Boy started lounging in his stroller! Suddenly, I peak through my stroller window and the kiddo has his feet up! I don't know if it's the heat or he just feels like chillin', but as a passerby said: se ve divino (he looks divine)!

what?

hanging out

it's becoming a daily thing

Future Archaeologist?

Lately Baby Boy has been obsessed with picking at anything hole-like, and extracting dirt with his little fingers. Prime culprits have been grout lines between tiles, any dirt patch on the grass, but especially, these holes we have in the fake marble tiles on our floors. (There is no foundation in the house, so the tiles are placed right over the ground, and where the tiles disintegrates: hello dirt!) One of the unique perks for a Baby Boy in Mexico- digging inside the house!