The Mom Part

So, frankly, this has not been an award-winning Authorial week. I do not handle rejection well to begin with, and when it's something as personal as the world and people I have created . . . ouch. And no, actually, I don't take a whole lot of comfort from people 'reassuring' me that it took X Author Y years/decades to get published. Kind of like saying, Hey! You've only got 7 1/2 years to go! Keep at it! Toss in some really unethical FTC regulations of bloggers (please, please see Courtney Milan's summary of this for how it impacts authors) and I feel like I'm an Author under fire.

But that's not why we're here. We're here for sheer, unadulterated Mom humor.

Hey, I had a long week. Work with me here.

So last Saturday, I went to Jen-up-the-street's yard sale. I like Jen, but we're both the introvert kind of mom, so we don't get together too much. Anyway, she had a yard sale. It started Friday, and Saturday was well into the nippy category.

In other words, Jen was looking to move some merchandise fast.

Oh, did I mention that the Kid went with? And both dogs? I honestly don't know how happy Jen was to see our sorry little party walk up her drive. But I came to buy and we didn't break anything, so all was well.

Side note: I love seeing other people's garages during garage sales. I love the ones where there's so much crap that they hang up a sheet rather than try to organize. I love the ones when there is NOTHING in that darn garage but neatly organized piles of merchandise. I understand the sheet people, but the nothing people? How do people live like that?

Anyway, back to the yard sale. (Jen's garage was neat, but there was stuff there. A good blend.) Jen was cold. She did not want to move this stuff back into her house. My kid will grow into her kid's stuff.

Deal time.

Like when my kid picked up this:



Yes, you are, in fact, looking at a pink Fisher Price digital camera. Jen's daughter's old camera. She didn't have the cords or the software for it, so she gave it to my kid.

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! (Name that obscure Victorian poem!)

Seriously. This kid is over-the-freaking-moon-in-love with his camera. I'm a little miffed--there went a great Christmas idea--but on the other had, did I mention the free part? And I had a compatible cable at home. All good.

I love my kid, but I'm not sure I ever really thought about how the world looks from his perspecitve since that one time I got down on all fours and looked around the kitchen to see if there was anything a new crawler could get into. In other words, it had been a while.

So what does the world look like to a kid?



Mom (me), drinking tea and driving.



Illinois farm land, as seen through the back window.



The back of Dad's seat in the car.



Jake, mostly.



He took this picture of the toy helicopter his PawPaw made him and promptly pronounced, "Ooh, good one!"



I see great still life pictures in his future. Just not with my shoes in them.



His cubby at daycare.

Can I tell you about daycare and the camera? I won't post the pictures--as you may have gathered, I don't post pictures of kids, mine or anyone else's, but my kid took pictures of all his friends at daycare. And one young lady, "B," was giving my kid The Look.

Ladies, you know The Look. You tilt your head to the side, bat your eyes, and ever-so-slightly part the lips. The Look that says "kiss me."

And "B," the little four-year-old vixen, was giving The Look to my kid. I have proof.

And then my little snot-nosed kid--my baby!--took a close-up of her lips.

No, I'm not kidding. Yes, I am thinking of locking him in his room for another fifteen years.

Moving on:



I like this shot. I don't know what it is supposed to be, but I like it anyway. Very modern.

So, as you can see by award-winning* shots such as this one of the daycare hallway:



I've got a future Pulitzer Prize winner on my hands here. It was a good reminder of why I love being a Mom so much.

Built-in comic relief.

(*not really)