I will do it myself, thank you very much....

Since becoming a parent I have learned that what I thought was an opportunity to "teach", is not. Parenting is not all about the teaching I am afraid. It is about learning too.

The lessons have been many.

There is the change the diaper of a baby boy lesson, which is "cover and change VERY fast "....And yeah to those of you sans children...Yes it does happen. Oh and it happens more than once....For God's sake.

There is also the "if anyone is going to puke", it will be in your bed at 3:00am on your 1200 Thread Count seets. I will add here, puke does not happen just once either....

Oh and there is the "hey I don't look half bad today" lesson. Which includes Mom putting on her best suit to go out to eat, only to pick an infant up before a pass to the baby sitter for one final kiss. Said baby have some sort of diaper explosion disaster all over Moms dry clean only suit.

Oh and what about this gem, the standing in the checkout lane at the grocery, feeling happy and proud your kids are the only children not screaming about M&M's and candy . Simply to have your 2 1/2 year old say in his LOUDEST voice "Mommy your boobies look like mountains, while grabbing one"..

These are all humiliating, and seem to keep my faltering ego in check, something I did not realize needed checking. However I won't disagree with Universal law.

The hardest lesson to learn?

Well it seems to me, those qualities that I think are so endearing about myself aren't as endearing as I would like to think.

For those of you who know me, it may not surprise you to know I like to do things by myself. If I break something I like to fix it, I do not like owing people, I do not like things to be left UNDONE..."I will do it myself, thank you very much."

The Pink Ninja, is 2 now. And, she wants to do ALL things by herself. This is really a surprise to me, because Dash prefers that me-- Mom take care of all of his "menial tasks". These include everything that is not "fun". However, Pink Ninja has such a great time "doing things by herself", and take such pride and absolute joy in performing ANY task by herself. That said, if you try and assist her she goes to pieces. If she is putting on her shoes, and runs into trouble and becomes frustrated , I will try and help, and she will throw herself on the floor. If I am preparing dinner plates at the table, she will want to portion her food out. However she is 2, not such a great idea....So I try and help her, help herself. She will literally scream at me "I do it, I do it myself MOMMY"....And will break down crying. It never seems to work out. One of us becomes frustrated with one another. She ends up crying, walking around with pant legs on her arms, and I follow her saying..."Honey I can help, let Mommy help you." "Those are pants, here is your shirt." And I watch her wrestle these pants, and she will wrestle them all day trying to make pants into a shirt.

I want her to know, that sometimes, it isn't worth it...Making pants into a shirt...Some things just cannot be done, no matter how hard you try.

So now I have to teach her, while I teach myself, that it is ok to ask for help, even with the small stuff.

Well Pink Ninja for a two year old, you are pretty smart. I owe you one kid.