1m2aSandbox

I’m pretty sure I put up this post every single year, but I can’t help it.

Talent shows always make me cry.

Cora did her talent show yesterday – they’re divided up by grade - and I don’t think there’s anything more soul-stirring than watching a dozen kindergarteners put themselves out there so bravely. I felt myself tearing up in the very first act (a very dapper tow-headed boy lip-synching to the Jackson Five’s “ABC”, replete in a mini leisure suit) and it never stopped.

There’s something about becoming a mother that makes you feel responsible for, well, the entire universe. I spent one entry about a week ago linking to therapeutic blogs to help work through this, so I’m not going to dwell on the rightness or wrongness here.

I’m just going to acknowledge that it exists.

Once you become a mother, you see every single child out there as, to some extent, your own. From very early on, I found myself trying to help out frustrated toddlers on a playground, or cautioning complete strangers that they were doing something dangerous (“Do you think your Mommy would let you cross the street blindfolded?”) Just last week I spent a lovely evening with an author friend of mine, attending his book signing and just being a fly on the wall. Once we left the gathering and were walking towards the parking lot, he looked bemusedly at me as I grabbed his hands and proceeded to squirt – uninvited – hand sanitizer on them.

Several months ago Cora was experiencing intermittent chest pains. I was reasonably certain it was some sort of heartburn and treated it homeopathically, since it never seemed to immobilize her. But after about a week of it, I began to worry she was having some sort of heart attack (I know, I know, but I’m a mommy) or something and I was missing all these signs, so I took her to the pediatrician. Just in case.

The pediatrician felt around and asked Cora a few questions. “Where does your chest hurt?”

Cora pointed right around her heart. “Here”.

“And what does your mommy give you when it hurts?”

Saturday night Maddie threw up- most likely from too much sugar celebrating her dad’s birthday. But when Sunday morning church time rolled around and she was astonishingly still asleep, we called an audible and skipped church, thinking if she was actually sick we didn’t want to wake her.

Maddie stumbled out of bed right as rain, so we settled into a slow, stay-at-home family day that was, to be honest, much-needed around here.

What did we do? Lessee – hard to really lay it all out there. Cora and I worked in our herb garden a bit, watering the plants and doing a little maintenance. While watering the dill we discovered nine (NINE!) caterpillars munching contentedly on it, obviously bulking up as they prepared for cocooning. A few minutes of yelling excitedly later, the entire family was gathered around the nine (NINE!) caterpillars, watching them munch in breathless wonder. Looks like we’re going to have several butterflies in a couple weeks.

So that, you know, took a good chunk of time.