Mommy Milestone

I've hit a MOMMY MILESTONE...maybe, sorta!

So I'm that semi controlling mom you always hear about that is kinda OCD about not wanting sticky toddler fingers touching absolutely every surface imaginable.  I tend to over-wipe Twodles' hands and face when I hear that sweet phrase "awe dun!" come from the highchair as he wiggles his pudgy little hands back and forth in the air.  Now that I think about it, I may tend to over-wipe when I'm diapering too.  Like when I think I'm satisfied with the cleanliness, I will usually do one more just for good measure.  And then I think of bath time...again, OVER WIPE.  Oh boy, I AM OCD...ish!

This image I caused you to conjure up of a child waddling aimlessly around the house whose body is red and wiped raw after each sticky goober removal may lead you to believe that his immune system HAS to be compromised. You think, "He probably spends the majority of life sick, or living like the bubble boy." But alas, I submit that he has only been sick twice that I can think of.

I would like to think his decent health is due to the fact that I subscribe to the 10 second rule, or that I have taken him outside and around other people since he was born (thankfully it was summertime then).  Maybe it's the fact that I didn't ask each person that requested a little snuggle time to thoroughly sanitize themselves (which is totally fine if you are a mom that does). Or, it could be that I recently allowed MYSELF to allow my child to EAT SNOW!!!  That's right, and it didn't even look too clean either!  That was kinda big for me.  He liked it so much that he wanted to keep eating the snow.  So I had to bribe him away from it with something a little less disgusting, and ironically probably a little less healthy too.

As you can see, I have some weird OCDish habits, but then other things I may be a little too lax about.  I may change, but probably not! The eating snow thing is what lead me to the possible mommy milestone.

It has always been easier for me to not allow Twodles to touch or do things that would be messy, avoiding a cleanup job like that of the little Mo robot on "Wall-E."  As of late I have been trying to allow myself to allow Twodles to do things that I wouldn't normally want him to do, like the sticky finger goober stuff!

So here they are:

Twodles pushed the chair up to the sink and started "wushin" the dish.  Normally I would have immediately pulled him off the chair.  I wouldn't want him to get all soapy wet, possibly lick the delectable looking suds, get water all over the counter and floor, have dirty feet tromping through the water that's on the floor, and cause me to have to mop the entire thing right then and there!  BUT this time I let him have some fun!  GO ME!

I let him play with a capped marker that I thought was all dried up.  When he scampered into the room I was de-junking with blue all over his hands and face, I almost got annoyed. But I CHOSE to smile, laugh, and grab the camera!  I think my usual concern for "yucky" things being on him has rubbed off a bit! (Note his look of concern.)

This last one may have been livin' a little TOO much on the edge, but I let him whisk the french toast concoction...I wanted to take over so bad!  I wanted to say, "Ok that's good, all done," especially when he dropped the whisk in the liquid e-coli petri dish and then proceeded to rescue it by plunging his ENTIRE HAND into the goo!  I stopped myself, even when he did it multiple times.  Keep in mind that the entire time he was whisking away like a seasoned chef, I kept repeating to him, "That's yucky, don't eat it...that will make you sick if you put it in your mouth, don't eat it!" Hahaha! I guess I couldn't hold back my usual behavior too much!

The last example somewhat relates to being a mommy, in that time is precious and mom's make food for their children to eat:

A couple nights ago I was making chicken pot pies which called for carrots.  Usually I would peel the carrots and then cut them up.  I thought to myself, "why should I need to peel the carrots?  It would save so much time if I just rinsed them off and cut them up."  To which I replied in my head "because that 'skin' is yucky...I mean it has touched or been touched by yucky things!"  I am a creature of habit, but this time I broke away from habit to save time. I also realized it probably doesn't make the carrot any more edible by peeling it first either. To make my decision sound even more convincing, I told myself that the "skin" is probably like that of an orange where all the good nutrients/vitamins are, and by peeling the carrots I am taking away from everything that is good and wholesome about them.  (I have no clue if that is true, but whatevs) I guess it worked because I DIDN'T peel the carrots.  I rinsed them and cut them up, that's it!  I even did the same thing again later in the week when I was making stir fry.  Score...I'm two for two!

For most of you, these scenarios may seem a bit silly or not even that big of a deal, but I consider them a mommy milestone!  Now here's to hoping I can keep up with this frame of mind and that it actually does allow Twodles some free agency, learning, and most of all FUN! (and I guess some sanity on my part as well)

Whether relating to mommy-ing or not, do you have any weird or silly obsessions that you just can't let go of?  OR...have you conquered any obsessions, and what was the outcome?