I'm just not normal......

I can't, for even one minute, try to pretend that I am a "normal" mom. I mean, I might look the part: I drive a dinged up mini-van, I wear almost-to-the-knee shorts during the summer, I carry a purse big enough to hold my personal 72-hour kit, etc. But follow me around for a day and you will see what I am talking about.

For one, I LOVE to embarrass my kids, even if it means embarrassing myself. My 14 year old can give you hundreds of examples. Most of the time she laughs and tries to "one-up" me, but she has found that it is almost impossible to embarass me in public. She begs me to just blend in when we have to go somewhere together. Don't talk to anyone. Don't talk to her. Pretend we are just strangers who happen to be walking next to each other. Doesn't she know that the more she protests, the more fun it makes it to make her squirm?

Next, there are times when I am great at comforting my kids when they are sad/hurt/disappointed. But other times, I tend to react in a way that makes the situation worse. For example, Asia found an advertisement for a Dance Camp put together by a few neighborhood girls. It will be held at the park down the road and when I told her she could do it, she nearly passed out from excitement.

Later that day she said, "Mom, I have to get all packed".

I said, "What for?"

She said, "Duh, for Dance CAMP. I need to go find a tent".

Okay, now who wouldn't start laughing? I tried to keep a straight face and told her that Dance Camp didn't mean she was going camping. She started balling and throwing herself on the floor. I was laughing so hard that it was making her cry harder.

Another bad mommy moment that happens a lot at our house....I DO NOT practice what I preach. When I make cookies I tell the kids they can only have a couple. What they don't know is that I hide most of them away so I can eat them without them knowing. They THINK I only eat two. Because that's what I tell them. I also tell them to hang up all of their clothes, yet I have a pile next to my bed that I don't put away because I will just need to get them out again later. I tell them to get off the computer and go play outside (so I can get on without being disturbed).

I really do try to be a normal mom. I kiss their boo-boos, drive them to every imaginable activity, make sure they get good grades and eat all their vegetables. But I guess there is just a part of me that refuses to grow up and act my age (which is 37 BTW). That's why when you see me and my 14 year old in the parking lot of the grocery store, she is rolling her eyes when I push the shopping cart real fast and hop onto the front for a ride.

And maybe there is no such thing as "normal".