My Iinside-my-Head Pat on the Back

Okay, before you read this boast post I want you to know that this is my journal--sort of. Sorry if all this mushy "I'm stinkin' proud of my kid" stuff gets your goat, but such is the way of the blog.  In ten years and I read all this again I know I will think to myself, "You have no idea how good you had it, girl." But I will have forgotten a lot of the struggles I have now. . .  but why dwell on struggles.  Everyone has struggles, but it makes us happier to dwell on the good--the successes.

Sometimes being a mom surprises me.  This may sound odd, but I just feel there are moments that I am such a mom.

For example, last week was parent teacher conference.  I was a little worried that the teachers would come to me and ask me to install a mute button on my children by the next day (okay, that is a little over the top, but you get my drift).

Gladly, I was much mistaken.  First I went to R's class and the teacher told me of somethings he can improve on but overall he was doing fabulous.  He is kind to others.  He loves to read. He is really good at math. In my head the R cheer squad was doing an award winning performance.

Then I went to S's teacher. It was 8:30. I had waited two hours to see her. I expected her to be exhausted.  We sat down and her face lit up.  It went something like this (I am pretty sure this is what I heard, I swear):

"S is so good. I wish I had 25 like her. If there is a child around S without a snack S will share--sometimes ten ways.  She is a learning sponge and I only have to teach her a thing once and she gets it.  She was writing a book about butterflies. I read it and she told about the eggs, Caterpillar, and the chrysalis. She asked me how to spell chrysalis, but I wasn't completely sure how so I told her to look it up in the dictionary. She did and her book was amazing."

I felt like my smile had been plastered on my face. I felt as if someone had just given me the Mrs. America crown and accompanying flowers and then won the Publisher's Clearing House Sweepstakes in one minute.

Now at first I wasn't sure how to tell my kids all this great news. But I ladled it on for them almost as much as the teachers had ladled it on for me and their smiles were big and bright.

Yesterday, S's teacher sent home a paper inviting parents to submit their child's work for a book contest.  S is really excited about it and W thinks we should do it (I'll act as the spell checker/semantics person--but we will likely be sending it out for a second opinion). 

A few days ago, R came home with a play his class is doing.  Guess who probably has the most lines--R.  He is tickled pink.  He loves the play and goes through his lines every day. Plus the doctor told me today that R seems very precocious.

I guess I never realized pre-mom and maybe even pre-recently that when someone pays my child a compliment it feels like a compliment to me--even though I often have little to do with it.