Aurora

Having spent the bulk of my childhood in the 80's, I was the proud owner of a few Cabbage Patch Kids. Of course the first one came in the year that everyone's did, the year that people were attacking each other at Christmastime in the stores to get the beloved scrunchy-faced doll for their kids. My parents are lovers, not fighters, so they did what normal people do and ordered one through the Sears catalog to be shipped when stock was replenished. It was an awesome spring evening when my sister and I arrived at the dinner table to find our new babies in an extra chair next to our own.

My baby was like so many other firstborns - highly anticipated, so special and well-loved - but I didn't love her name. What kind of name is Aurora?! I considered officially renaming her but life kept moving and I fell in love with her just the way she was. I dressed her, talked to her and tucked her in with me every night. She made me so happy. But like so many things in childhood, she eventually fell by the wayside as my attention was bestowed upon other things. But now, thirty-some years later I find myself wondering if that first doll was meant to teach me that any Aurora is always worth the wait.

These nights I find myself checking on Aurora again before bed; I always hope she's out if only to give me a little bit of excitement as I tuck in for the night. She's elusive, but sometimes she'll come out of hiding for my camera. Only a couple of times has she been so out in the open at bedtime that I feel compelled to go outside and say hello. A few nights ago she rewarded me with a brief show that made me as excited as a little girl with a new toy.

She was sweet enough to take a selfie with me.

It's a Little Dry

I really enjoy fall and the crisp air, but we're all suffering from the lack of humidity. It manifests most visibly in Natalie, she's most prone to wind-chapped cheeks and generally dry skin. She's also most likely to entertain us with her charged up attitude and hair to go with it. Exhibit A, good times in the trampoline:

Today, I am Successful

Some days, I wonder if I'm good at what I do. Typically, when employed, you evaluate your abilities by the quality of the goods you produce. When you work inside the home, you have to judge your abilities by the same standards but the only goods I produce are two small people who are decidedly works in progress (unless you'd like to count three square meals daily, two non-imaginative snacks, laundry which is inevitably stuck somewhere in the pipeline, and a house that stays clean for less than twelve hours and that's only if we're asleep for at least nine of those). But you get where I'm going with that. Many days it is daunting, depressing, invalidating, etc. and doesn't often leave me feeling like saying, wow! I am really awesome at this today!

Except on the rare days when I do. For there are moments when I see the kids do something that is good and right and I know that they learned it from me. Not from Noggin - it's like preschool, on tv! - or friends or even from their dad, but from me. And in that brief instant, I get that invisible pat on the back, the priceless paycheck that lets me know maybe I'm actually doing okay and they will turn out okay in spite of all the many ways I screw up each and every day. Today, my sweet Natalie granted me one of those moments.

Let me set the scene: we were pulling out of our local Wal-Mart's parking lot and I stopped at the cross walk to let a woman walk into the store. It was raining, she was carrying a baby, it was the right thing to do. As we sat there, wipers swishing back and forth, I watched her saunter across and realized she was wearing pajamas. I didn't say anything, but I was thinking it. And honestly, I was thinking about the blog post that could stem from that observation, which is why don't you ever see anyone at Target in their pajamas? Is there an unwritten rule that says it's okay at Wal-Mart but not at Target? But I didn't verbalize any of this, I just sat there silently, waiting for here to amble by. And then from the back seat, little miss I-don't-miss-a-darn-thing says,

"Mommy, she wearin' her 'jamas! Dass sih-wee!"

I couldn't help but laugh. "Yes, Nat, she's wearing her pajamas. You think that's silly?"

"Yeah, Mama. We no wear our 'jamas to Wah-wahp! We take our 'jamas off and we yeave dem at home! We wear cyose to Wah-wahp! Dat girl is sooo sih-wee."

And with that, we headed out. I was bursting with pride. You see, the Air Force might keep sending us to towns where there is no Target and I might be forced to raise my kids in places where we encounter even crazier things than people wearing their night clothes to public places but darn it, I'm doing something right if my two-year old knows that it's just plain silly to go shopping in your pajamas.