MOM-ents: Wouldn’t It Be Great to Be a Toddler Again?

I never doubted my mom for a minute when she told me that your kids grow up so fast that it breaks your heart. 

I have a daughter who is 2 going on 20 and a 10-month-old who is taking his first steps.  Ryann tells me daily how excited she is about getting “big” while Matt and I try (unsuccessfully) to convince her that she has got it made.  Being little is easy.  Being a MOM is exhausting. 

So this got me thinking.  Wouldn’t it be great to be a toddler again?

I would love to be 3 for a day (and potty trained, hint, hint Ryann) and wake up early in the morning with 90% of a king-size, pillow-top mattress all to myself while my parents sleep on either side of me with limbs hanging off the sides of the bed.  I would shake them awake and then lie back down so that they could rub my back and play with my hair trying to urge me back to sleep.  When I tired of that, they would carry me downstairs and set me up on the couch in front of my favorite show while they went and got me whatever beverage I desired and prepared whatever meal I demanded for breakfast.

My day would be full of people waiting on me hand and foot.  I could watch whatever I wanted on television, have anything I wanted to eat and change my mind about said desires as much as I wanted without repercussion.  I would have an endless number of books on any topic that I could look through at my own leisure or have read aloud to me if I got tired of holding them up. 

Family parties would be spent going between a range of different family members whose sole aspiration is to entertain me.  I could spend as much or as little time with each of them and then walk away when they ceased to provide me with the type of entertainment I desired.  I wouldn’t be hurting anyone’s feelings, as I can’t possibly be expected to stay focused on one thing for too long.  I am, after all, just a child.

I would have more toys and crafts and activities to stimulate me then I could ever possibly use.  When I was done with one item, I could just cast it aside and it would magically return to the spot from whence it came.  

When I started to get a little drowsy, I would be whisked away to a perfect, temperature-controlled bubble bath where my only responsibility was to stay seated while I was scrubbed clean.  Upon my departure from the tub, my teeth would be brushed for me, my hair blow-dried perfectly and my nails would be clipped and polished.  Once my pajamas were on I would return downstairs where my dad would snuggle me and rock me until I drifted off to sleep.

Since I didn’t appreciate having all of those things done for me when I was little I can understand why Ryann doesn’t think it is so great being little (except the main reason she wants to get bigger is so that I will let her chew gum), but now that I am older I do appreciate what it means to be a child. 

I also appreciate even more what it means to be a mom and I have my own mom to thank for teaching me what it takes. I would like to say Happy Mother’s Day to her and to all the moms who give to their kids every single day the type of days that we can only now dream about for ourselves.

Disclaimer:  I made my toddler sound way ruder than she really is in person.  Most days.