Ever wonder why God made babies so cute? It's their defense mechanism. You'll put up with all those diapers and crying for that cute little smile. I'm a baby feet person. I can't resist kissing those adorable little feet. Once they start talking, our kids keep us in stitches with their unique way of looking at things and their version of the English language. That's why we don't give up when the terrible twos hit! My husband still calls kitties, "leelies" and yellow, "lellow" long after our son has mastered the language. Our favorite is when one of our kids was two and a half and got mad at his brother and yelled at him, "You choo choo train!!"
These demanding little creatures must be fed, bathed, clothed, weaned, and potty-trained. Then there's open house, PTA, baseball, swimming lessons, scouts, birthday parties, doctors, dentists and braces. If you have time left after this, it's most important that they learn manners, politeness, respect, confidence, kindness, patience, gratitude, and mercy. They must learn wisdom: i.e. "Don't talk to strangers.", the golden rule, honesty, discernment, the early bird gets the worm, etc.
Motherhood isn't just work. It has its fun side, too. I praised my four-year-old's creativity in making a design on paper with his crayons one day and the next day I found even better designs displayed more prominently ...on the carpet. One of my kids found a great way to make fireworks in the kitchen--he put a hot dog in the microwave with the foil still on (Don't try this at home, kids). Every family has at least one kid who excels at filling in the blanks. They put pebbles, coins or straws up their noses and balls in their mouths, frogs in your boots, and are great at clogging toilets with everything imaginable.
All of this primes us but does not totally prepare us for ... you better sit down for this... the TEENAGE YEARS. This is when these little cherubs suddenly think you are an embarrassment and a bother and invariably bite the hand that feeds them. They are becoming adults and testing their wings. This is not a good time to go on a vacation for two (although you need it desperately) or to get amnesia (Remember what a pain you were at the age?). It is a good time to get a refrigerator that locks or maybe invest in a dairy cow. Some parents may even find it helpful to sleep with the distributor cap to junior's car under their pillow.
By the way, wasn't that a pretty combination of colors around your neighbor's eye when he came over to return your son's stray baseball?
Copyright April 30, 1993 Ann Wilkes