Muffins with Moms aka What about Bob?

Today was Muffins with Moms day at the boys preschool. Rather than head straight to work, we all skipped breakfast this morning and I headed to school with the boys and even made it on time, 15 minutes before the start of their regular day. The boys were so glad I could be there and I really was too. Since it was "Muffin Day" for both boys classes, I planned to split these special 30 minutes between the two classes.


During the first 15 minutes I enjoyed a few bites of Isaac's muffin, then wrote our names and doodled a doggy picture on the paper table cloth his teachers had provided for us to draw on. We both could have easily eaten one muffin each but I chose to follow along with the obvious unwritten rule about moms not partaking of whole muffins in front of other moms. Seriously, I didn't see a single mom in either class take more than a pinch or two of their child's muffin. No mom, including myself (for some odd reason) took a muffin for ourselves even though it was obvious by the quantity available that it was intended for everyone to have muffins. It was kind of funny, I find myself very self conscious going into this type of parents event knowing that I am fairly likely to be the only single mom there and definitely likely to be the only widow but apparently the other moms are self conscious too. Apparently so much so that we don't eat muffins!


Anyway, about Bob...

When I got to Grant's class, each child had made a very special gift for their mom. They were really so cute. Somewhere the teacher had found mouse pads with a 2010 calendar as a frame around the edge and a place to insert a picture. The children were given a paper with the Bible verse "Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6 and told to draw a picture of their mom to put in the frame. The assistant teacher in Grant's class shared the conversation with me that she had with Grant as he created his work of art.


Their conversation went something like this:

"Grant, I see that you drew your Mommy, but what is this?"

"It's the ladder for my bunk bed."

"Oh, I see. Are you finished now since you have already drawn your Mommy?"

"No, I've got to draw Bob."

"You've got to draw Bob? Grant, this picture is for your Mommy, you just need to draw her."

"No, Bob's at our house and my mommy likes him. I like Bob too. I need to draw Bob."

Then Grant pulled out a blue crayon and proceeded to draw Bob.

Thankfully, his teacher recognized him as the jello-like character from the movie "Monsters vs. Aliens"!


Sometime I'll have to take a picture of my mousepad and load it here, it really is something else and a very special treasure. It also means a lot to me to know that Grant likes the movie he got for his birthday and treasures the time we spend together snuggled up and watching it. I guess for that reason, we both like "Bob"!

I'm Changing My Name!!!

It starts every morning the moment they wake up. "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" Grant has so many, many things to say on any given day. For some reason he just can't start right out and tell me what's on his mind. He feels the need to start every sentence by saying Mommy repeatedly until I've responded at least twice before he will go on and complete his thought. Of course little brothers have a tendency to think they should do what big brothers do so even though he's a man of few words, Isaac is also picking up this habit. Both boys are fighting with allergies or a cold so this evening so was filled with whiny versions of "Mommy," as well as a good deal of crankiness and some clinginess too!

Grant is going through another one of those phases where his bed seems to be made of rubber and every time I tuck him in it seems that he just bounces right back out again. He likes his blanket to be just so and will beg me to straighten it every time he gets back in bed. Once or twice is ok but this too can get old fast. Tonight was one of my 2 nights a week to babysit and the baby was going to sleep while Grant was still having a fit over his blanket. He had already been in enough trouble that he stayed in bed but continued to yell, "Mommy! at random intervals. Of course he managed to wake Isaac who had been sleeping peacefully in the next room. Isaac began to cry "Mommy!" This was only fuel to Grant. Every time Isaac cried out "Mommy!" Grant responded with, "MY Mommy!" Then Isaac would cry out again. Thankfully the little guy I watch can be pretty good at tuning out bigger boys that are being rotten! He went on to sleep. Whew! I wound up rocking Isaac a bit since he had gotten pretty worked up and finally convinced Grant he was on his own with his blanket and that Mommy's patience was worn thin enough that he probably shouldn't wake Isaac or the baby.

I've wanted to be a mom for as long as I can remember but occasionally the sound of "Mommy!" becomes like fingernails on a chalkboard. Periodically, on a day like today, I threaten to stop answering to Mommy and consider changing my name entirely. When I made this threat once this summer, a good friend told me that as many times as I hear "Mommy" in any given day, he's surprised I remember to answer to Amber. He's probably got a good point! Anyway, I do love my boys and am proud to be their Mommy. I am also really glad they are finally both asleep!