A Fact

I have never been a mommy to a 10.5 year old before.

Everyday is a first for us.

Last week I took Cooper to sign him up for Mother's Day Out at our church. He's getting to heavy to carry him in the carrier, so I just got him out and carried him in. I knew it shouldn't take very long, so in order to save myself from carrying in my purse and the diaper bag and him, I just took in my purse. I had the information ready that I thought I would need and was ready to fill out the application. I met the director of the program and introduced Cooper and she gave me the form to fill out. She did give me the option of taking it home and filling it out, but I opted to just stay since we were already there. Plus the thought of having to put him in the car and take him out of the car again was not very appealing to me.

We sat at a small table (like in a preschool room) and I put Cooper in my lap. It is very hard for me to fill things out for him for some reason. I'm still not used to it and I had to concentrate to fill out his name instead of mine. His birthday instead of mine. My name as the mom instead of my own mother's name. And trying to make sure that all the information was correct and look up what I didn't know.

The trick was, I had my 10.5 month old with me. This same boy that not a week ago was perfectly content to sit on my lap and look around or be entertained by a piece of paper for several minutes, decided that today would be the day he no longer was content to just sit on Mommy's lap. Today, the day I'm sitting in front of the director of MDO, trying to fill out forms for my baby, would be the day he starts to fuss and buck and wiggle and grab and not be entertained by Mommy. I worked with what I had.

A pen. A receipt. My phone. None of which kept his attention for long. I resorted to putting him on the floor, only to have the director point out after a couple of minutes that he was close to pulling over the folding chairs by the wall. Of course he was. I moved him away from the wall and by my purse. I look down to fill out a few more questions and look up to see him waving around a baggie of ibuprofen that he pulled from my purse. Grinning of course. So I picked him back up, still trying to concentrate to fill out all the questions while he was wiggling and reaching and grinning at the director.

At one point I had to get out my wallet to get the insurance card out and I somehow dropped the card and was looking frantically for it as it had just been in my hand. It was on the floor beside me.

Thankfully, admittance to the program is not based on your ability or lack there of to fill out forms while entertaining your child and he will be starting in the fall.

Like I said, everyday is a first for us.