Hop, Skip, and a Jump

I try to be a fun Mom. Or at least a Mom that let’s my kids have some age-appropriate, un-adult-interrupted fun. I try to relax about the dirt in the mouth, and the bugs in their hands, and the sand in the hair, and the sticky popsicle juice dripping down their chins and arms. Inevitably there are the “treasures” with which my little treasures fill their pockets (treasures that undoubtedly end up in the washer and possibly the drier). I try to relax but I’m not great at it. I’m pretty uptight about dirt and bugs and sand and sticky. And today, it left me all wet. OK, not me, but our Mister.

Mister, Tudders and I had a fun day visiting Grandma at her house and playing with aunts. We linked trains, read books, played pounded on the piano (sorry Mom). We played Just Dance on the Wii and this mom even cut loose, did a little foot loosin’. At the end of our visit the majority of the family (my parents and several siblings that happened to be there) all ventured to the driveway to say our goodbyes. There is no such thing as a quick goodbye with my family and today was no different. My children were thrilled to find the sprinklers had just turned on and now had some freedom and time to enjoy them.

As a side note, I attempted to be an awesome mom yesterday and we had some time for playing the sprinklers and they did not find the thrill in it. (There was a lot of hesitation and eventual tears. You’d think I’d turned on a power washer instead of a fan-shaped oscillating sprinkler, which would be extremely dangerous and should NEVER be done.) But when you are away from home, need to sit in a carseat to return home, and don’t have a change of clothing, all of a sudden sprinklers are the coolest thing ever. Like. The. Coolest.

So I consciously decided to be a relaxed mom and not fret about wet clothes and a car ride home with children in their skivvies. By the time we were ready to pack up, Mister had really enjoyed himself. He was soaked. I typically have a change of underwear and pants with us, for the inevitable hazards of potty training, but only found underwear. My little man has become quite aware of modesty as of late and I knew without something to cover him he was going to have a full on meltdown, in the driveway, wearing only his cute little undies. Luckily I also found a linen ring sling that I had shoved in the diaper bag the day before. Don’t know what a ring sling is? Check back for a post where ring slings, wraps and mei tais are explained.

My Mom held a towel to block the view of the non-existent passersby. Thank goodness for that, Mister has a hard time when Tudders sees him changing out of his jammies! And I whipped out our ring sling. I wrapped it around him as a makeshift toga and reassured him he was covered. He was so pleased with himself! Grinning ear to ear and comfortable enough to make the “rounds” and say good bye.

We finished our goodbyes and loaded into the van. Mister had to unwind himself from his “attire” before climbing into his carseat. I was then able to lay out the ring sling to it’s full length (about 2.5 yards) and use it as a blanket to cover his naked little legs and torso. He was so happy and content. I was filled with joy at the look on his face. His fun day had ended with squeals of delight filling our ears as he played in the water instead of the air ringing with reprimands from mom about not getting wet, which – if we are honest – we all knew was going to happen anyway. Relaxing just a bit gave me an opportunity to witness my sweet children enjoying their childhood and consequently I got to enjoy this moment of bliss.

Although I know full well it isn’t always easy, try to take a minute to relax and take in their childhood. It’s well worth it.

Have you been able to relax a little? Did you end up with a grin on your face and joy in your heart? Share it with us!

Hop, Skip, and a Jump by peasap at flickr.com; Some rights reserved, see license for more information; Added text and size editing has been done by averagejosie.com. Use of this image does not indicate the artist has any affiliation with or participates in the promotion of this site or its contents.

Other image: averagejosie.com