I Am Not Mommy Poppins!
Welcome to Keeping It Real Part 3: “You are Mommy Poppins – Practically Perfect in Everyway”
I’m really flattered by these, but let’s take a real look at this topic.
I hear “You’re the best mom” a lot from people who don’t know a whole lot about our child, me or our home life.
Nina may be my only child, but she’s like my 80th kid. I’ve been a caretaker since I was very young, caring for baby cousins, neighbors, babysitting and nanny clients’ kiddos followed by patients, friends’ kids, etc. I’ve lost count of how many diapers I’ve changed, how many babies I have sleep trained and how many kids I’ve helped to potty train.
I am not the perfect mom. I resonate best with the evil queen and my internal mantra is that it is my job to mold a good human, not be her best friend. So I let her know when she’s being super weird or annoying so she can have that self awareness. I totally snap at her when I shouldn’t and when I should because I’m a little sassy. I definitely hold her to high standards and sometimes struggle for understanding or patience of her true age or abilities.
I see my faults in her and try to mold them out of her, when I should empathize instead. I see her weaknesses and sometimes make allowances for her when I shouldn’t. I refer her to her father from 12 am – 5 am for non-emergency issues. I do not volunteer to clean vomit or poop when daddy is available to do so. I say “shut your mouth” when she talks during the Mandalorian because #mandoislife. I let her make and eat way too much cake. I reward her with food and say yes to snuggles and movies more than I should.
The flip side of the previous one is….“Your daughter is so beautiful. She must be perfect.”
We have an awesome kid. She is truly a rock star. She’s also a large mouthed, opinionated old lady in an 8 year old’s body. She’s brilliant, stubborn and feisty and those things are sometimes a challenge and sometimes a blessing. She does weird things like bite her toenails, talk in a crazy high voice for hours and ask for a second meal after she just finished one.
COVID has taught me just how gross her personal hygiene probably was because a kid who had like 6 sick visits to the doctor per year has had none this year, knock on wood! She fights with me about me getting her taco order wrong, calls me out in front of her class for not brushing her hair (which I DID) and is overall a ham sandwich in the best and worst ways. I love her, can’t wait for her to go to bed, but miss her while she’s sleeping. Being a mom is weird and hard and I don’t get to escape that!
Don’t think I’ve got it all figured out or that I’m the perfect mom with the perfect kid!
Perfectly Yours,
Dr. Mo
