I always had this idea in my head that I would be a certain kind of person when I "grew up" and had kids. I would stay at home, raise my brood, bake cookies and ferry my children hither and yon to their various extracurricular engagements. I would always carry wipes for my children's small public messes, extra undies, and snacks galore. My husband and I would live in a tract home and have stainless steel appliances. Pretty lofty goals, right? So far none of these events have come close to happening (except the cookies.) First of all, I'm not a stay at home mom, Justin and I don't own a home or enjoy joint ownership of a fabulous double-sided, stainless steel fridge and/or oven, and we're not married. Of all these imaginings and might-have-beens, the one that is the most shocking in its failure to appear is the fact that I'm not this glorious beacon of preparedness and maternal energy that I imagined myself to become someday. Maybe I'm just a victim of the media, because I am finding that the image of the perfect mom is akin to the airbrushed supermodel body: it is just an illusion. And what's great about that is that I know it is an illusion, unattainable...but the worrier/type A in me keeps me from totally giving up on the idea, and once in awhile, I find some pretty good, convenient solutions to mommy-ing on the go.
For example, I always envied those moms who could remember to bring snacks with them everywhere, like my Aunt Suzy whom in my childhood was a resourceful, crafty, ever prepared, domestic goddess. Bored? I have games to play and crafts to craft in the cupboard! Hungry? I have a granola bar, fruit snacks AND a juice in my purse! Wow! However, these easy, convenient snacks are not exactly in-line with our lifestyle. Individual wrappers, HFCS, gluten, red #40...a self proclaimed hippie's worst nightmare. So I found these instead: http://thesilico.com/. Re-useable, BPA and phthalate-free squeezy tubes. Fill 'em with some organic kefir or homemade fruit and veggie mash and stuff it in your purse to stave off the public tantrum your toddler will throw when she's hungry. I can't wait for them to get here!
We also started juicing this week, so I'm sure Gemma's sippy cup will be filled with some fresh veggie juice too. I'll let you know if I find any recipes that are particularly toddler friendly.
In the end, all it really took to satiate my need to feel like a good mom was probably what amounts to $5 worth of food-safe plastic. Which I know is silly because at this age Gemma doesn't care about sili-squeezes, granola bars, crafts or soccer at this point. Even as I'm writing this she's trying to play peek-a-boo with me from behind the computer screen. So before she grows up and realizes that I'm just Mama and not June Cleaver/ Soccer mom hybrid, I'm going to go play.
