I took Chloe to her gymnastics class and had a rare opportunity to sit on a reasonably comfortable couch wedged in between sixty strangers, (one of whom was a two year old who used my hair as dental floss) and catch up on some reading.
When Chloe came out of the gym she said, “You didn’t watch me. You were reading your Hobo.”
This is what we in the business call a ‘half truth.’
I was reading my Kobo.
This was a good reminder to keep me in check. Why should I have even five freakin’ minutes of quiet time to read Orange Is The New Black? She’s just as excited about showing me her new skills as she is participating. I need to stay connected after missing her all day.
On a related note, Hanna had just said to me the other night, “I love that you’re not one of those Moms who’s always on her phone.” The truth is, I don’t know how my phone actually works and quite often leave the house without it. Maybe if I had a quick lesson, I would be on it more but when someone says, “I’ll text you,” I just wave double dream hands and fire up the mini-van.
Being a Mom who isn’t on her phone all day doesn’t let me off the hook. It doesn’t mean I don’t have my distractions. My laptop, my PC Candy Cane ice cream, the hour each day I spend talking the white hair down off my cowlick.
I did catch Chloe as she looked through the window in the gym and mouthed some words to me. I choose to believe she was saying, Pi equals 3.1.4….but it might have been, “Do you ever wash your jeans?”
When I wasn’t reading or being used as floss, here is what I saw: Chloe simulating barfing into the window while the other girls smiled demurely and pretended they were princesses.
I then saw the same kid who plowed through a bunch of others to get to the front of the line, (Chloe) select the tiniest sticker after her “Ta-Das” and gingerly place it on the back of her hand like she was saving the life of a baby sea turtle and wouldn’t put on her coat, lest it disrupt the wee turtle’s oxygen supply and delicate shell.
Stay off your Hobos Moms.
We’re missing the good stuff.
