Mother's Day to the Max

Natalian of the marvelous baby feet photos has tagged me with a meme that was initiated by Catherine of Her Bad Mother and her friend David to find out if mothers around the world have similar or different perspectives when it comes to raising children. The challenge is to list 5 things one enjoys about motherhood and then tag 5 different mothers to do the same.

Here are five-ish things I enjoy about Motherhood:

1. The amazingly honest and uninhibited way my children react to the world.











2. The plump cheeks, the musky scent, the yummy knees, the chubby feet, the perfect tushies, the general deliciousness of small children.

3. The crazy little toy arrangements they leave everywhere.

4. Their wild jigs of pure delight when something small makes them happy.

5. The feeling of deep, deep love and belonging. There is no other feeling like it.

I also get a kick out of diluting the Master Race with mongrel genes, bwa ha ha ha ha!!!!!!!!!!! Although I'm actually mostly German.

And finally, I find their unquenchable interest in my life both unexpected and gratifying. Every morning K says, 'Mommy, tell me a story.' They want to know me. They are interested in what has happened to me and how I lived before them.

Or maybe they just want to put off getting dressed in the morning. But I prefer to think of it as genuine interest.

This morning I told them the story of Max, who was a far better mother than I am. He never sat at his computer typing frantically and shushing me while I made increasingly obnoxious bids for his attention. He sat with me patiently for hours while I played with blocks, gently sniffing each one.

Max was a ginormous dog we had when I was a baby. He may have been part Doberman. He was my constant companion. He shared his dog biscuits with me and kept his mouth open when I grabbed his tongue, as I loved to do when he yawned. I have a picture of us together when I was about 9 months old and he's the size of a small pony. A gentle giant. My only memory from my first year of life is Max, always there in front of me while I played.

One day my mother took us all to the store and left me in the car with Max, as parents were wont to do back then. It's not like anyone would try to steal me with a big killer dog sitting right there. Max yawned and I reached into his mouth and grabbed his tongue, laughing hysterically while he tried to close his mouth without biting me.

As you can imagine, passerby's completely panicked at the sight of a hysterical baby with her hand in a huge dog's mouth. I gather that my mom had some explaining to do when she came back to the car a minute later.

They love that story.

They love me. I bask in it and hope I don't mess up too badly.

Now I'm supposed to tag 5 other global moms. If you comment on the original post you will be included in the roundup here.

I tag Bebe (have fun in Rome), R, G (get well soon), Patty and Naturelady. And Ladyfi.

And Tara, Lucy, Lawyer Mom, Carol, Maven, Jessica, Debbie and Emily, of course!

Is that 5?

Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful moms.

And to my mom, too, who's arriving in Munich tomorrow.