Leslie over at My Mommy’s Place tagged me for a Real Mom meme.  I’m not tagging anyone else (because I’m lame that way) but feel free to play along if you like.  Here are my thoughts on the subject.

A real mom starts taking her first child to full time daycare after only six months even though she is supposed to be a stay-at-home nurturer of all things small; because she just needs a little time alone to read books without pictures and shower and call up a friend who knows how to form complete sentences.

A real mom struggles to nurse her firstborn because it’s the “right’ thing to do.  They say it’s better for her baby’s health and it will build an unbreakable bond between mother and child.  That same mom realizes after about 7 months that the term “right” is subjective.

A real mom having read Ferber and Ezzo determines that all babies can learn to sleep through the night if only they are left alone to cry long enough.  A real mom eventually feels the tugging in her heart, picks up her child and cries too for those lost moments spent apart.

A real mom takes her second child to part-time daycare because she realizes the refreshing power of taking time to regroup.  She knows it makes her a better mommy especially to her firstborn because the two of them spend their Brother-less days together - cooking and talking and playing and rebuilding the unbreakable fragile bond that nursing started but that Ferber and Ezzo broke.

A real mom nurses her second child for no other reason than she wants too.  She picks up him when he cries, nurses him to sleep each and every time he wakes and finds that when at last he gives up the breast a few days short of his second birthday, she is sad.

A real mom learns to to try unsual solutions.  She creates the mega-bed because she understands her children’s desire for comfort at night but recognizes her own real need for rest.

A real mom allows her children to teach her the power of touch and love and gentleness.  She learns to follow their innocent lead and through them she lives life anew, delighting in the discovery of rain and words, butterflies and toads.

A real mom is not afraid to change.