Monday 9 October 2006

pretty baby deserves a pretty mama

So - the weekend.
Saturday was Cass's birthday party - he cleaned up with dinosaurs and cars and auto garages (and I thought you liked me, Sister-In-Law? Why did you throw me mercilessly into the land of Toys with Many Small Parts?) and a gorgeous snow outfit - he had a Superman cake and a terrific time.

Sunday was Thanksgiving dinner (Thanksgiving is actually tomorrow) and we all had lovely food and good wine and great conversation at the Other Sister-In-Law's (to be referred to as the Good SIL, heh) and then when we came home I put the 10000 part toy together and it works and C loves it. And kudos to me! I put it together without teaching the kids any new swear words!

I'm going to link to Friday Playdate, because Susan wrote about something that really made me think this weekend, all about forgetting ourselves as beautiful women as we puzzle out motherhood.

She writes:

What I'm saying is this: answering to 'Mommy' doesn't mean that you don't deserve to wear clothes that are not playgroup appropriate and talk to other adults about something other than poop every once in a while. But wearing only sweatpants can make us feel that way.

Go read it. It's a phenomenal post by a very good writer.

So today I dug out my contacts, found a nice pair of black slacks, and blew my hair dry. I even wore a little make-up (At home! Shocking!)

Rosey took one look and started jabbering 'Eyes!' at me. Then when I didn't take the hint, she went upstairs to find my glasses for me herself. After she brought them down (B intercepted them swiftly and handed them off) she and I did a little naming of body parts:
Nose! Mama's nose! (she jabbed her own and then mine)
Toes! Mama's toes!
Shoulders! (etc)
Feet!
Ears!
Knees!
Eyes! R faltered. She touched her eyelid and stared at me. Then...she touched my hand holding the glasses.

In other words, my daughter thinks these frames just 'growed there', like Topsy.

I don't mind that so much - glasses are perfectly fine, and I'm actually more comfortable in them than the contacts, but the idea that she would think they grew there and were a part of me was sobering.

So next week? Going to work more on Me, and not just the Mommy-me.

After all, I deserve it!

3 comments:

Cat, Galloping said...

i totally agree. i really try to blow my hair dry and put on makeup every single day, because i feel like shit if i don't. even when gatito was a newborn, i was *never* one of those people that didn't manage to find time to shower. i either got up early or did it when A came home from work. it makes a *huge* difference in my mood.

Susan said...

Come here, Jess, and let me give you a great big smooch. You're so kind.

And Cat, I'm always glad to hear about other people who MUST shower; I can go without a lot of things, but not my shower. Which pretty much rules camping out for me.

MsCellania said...

YES YES and Did I say
YES?!

No fair jumping out of the pj's 5 minutes before the working spouse arrives home; and no fair wearing sweats every minute that one isn't in pj's. It's disastrous for self image. I know this because? I did this when the boys were babies. For about 6 months. I gave myself a swift kick in the buns one day, and got a grip.

Glad Cass had a great birthday! And we have lots of those many little pieces toys now, too. And the little legos?! ARGHHHHHHHHHHH!

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