Shut Up...I Have Something In My Eye!

I guess I've always been an emotionally sensitive person. I've been described as intense, moody, and many other, less-flattering words I can't say/type here. Sometimes being that way is a good thing. The psychotic sweet love I feel for my husband, son, and other family is a wonderful emotion to experience intensely.

However, I've noticed that it's gotten even worse in the past couple of years.  Whatever the cause of the emotional change I've undergone since The Mayor was born, I find that it's so easy to cry these days. Maybe not a full-on, snot-streaming-down-the lip cry, but at least getting wet in the eyeballs. Sometimes the situation where I find myself weepy surprises me, and sometimes it doesn't. Many are related to babies or children, which just makes me reflect on my little dude. Others are just ridiculous. Lately:

1.  Any diaper commercial
2. Watching a video of people dancing to Lady Gaga's "Let's Dance"
3. At the holiday Parade of Lights this year
4. Gymboree song sung to the tune of We Will Rock You by Queen
5. The ending of Monsters, Inc.
6. Creating a video of Santa for Jack

While these situations can be embarassing, especially when I'm in public, I find them humorous for the most part.

                + Me =







Then there's the much more serious part, the one that's harder to handle and not so funny. Somehow, I used to be able to distance myself from human suffering much more easily. This may sound terrible, but I think I had an issue with being able to empathize and connect with humans due to things that have happened in my life. It's been very hard for me to learn to trust people.

So, before Jack, animal suffering was the cause that really tugged at my heart. I gave money, I volunteered time, I signed petitions for legislation, I adopted every single animal I've ever owned, etc. Since The Mayor, though, I've changed. While I still have this soft spot in my heart for abused/neglected and homeless animals, I am much more drawn to helping humans, and especially children, in need. And it's really no mystery to me why that is. I am now able to see every.single.human.being as someone's child. I can picture Jack in their place, whether homeless, starving, abused in the sex slave industry, illiterate and uneducated due to complete lack of opportunity...the list goes on and on. It brings immediate tears to my eyes and a pain in my heart to ever think of Jack being in need or pain or forgotten by society. All of these people suffering in these situations were/are someone's child. And that just tears me up inside. I can barely watch a Feed the Children commercial, see an ad for the The Smile Network, or see pictures of AIDS orphans who are all alone in the wide world, without crying or feeling ill. And, while it hurts to feel these things, I realize it helps me to be more connected to my fellow humans. To care for them in a way that I wasn't completely capable of before. And that, in my (sad and teary) eyes, is a wonderful thing. Crying at a Pampers commercial is just a silly by product, and I'm OK with that. 

Through The Eyes of a Nose Picker

So last night we took The Mayor to the big annual holiday parade here in Denver, The Parade of Lights. It's at night, everything's covered in lights, and it's Denver, so it's cold in December at night. As awesome as that may sound, Ace and I are not always good about taking Jack to stuff like that. We're kind of old farts and don't always have the time and energy and enthusiasm to go and do the super-duper-rah-rah-family-happy-time stuff. But I thought this sounded fun. And you know what? It really was awesome , and I almost cried while we were there. I know...hard to believe....me being a big, emotional wimp.

As we were waiting in anticipation for the parade to start (45+ minutes), I kept telling Jack how excited I was (and he should be) and trying to explain what we would see and how neat it would be, since he'd never been to a parade before. He could tell something super cool was going to happen.

LOVE ME or I'll come after your family!

Long story not-so-short, I had a really, really fun time at the parade. It was so cool to see the look on Jack's face when the horses went by, and when he saw the dude dressed like a psychotic red muppet Elmo. He was 100% mesmerized for almost an hour. And it hit me while watching him and feeling such inexplicable enjoyment at watching a silly parade, that I was getting the amazing opportunity to see things through the eyes of a child.

Yeah, yeah, I know. We've all heard it so many times from parents. But when it happens to you, it's just really cool. As we grow and mature, most of us lose the magic and the ability to see the beauty and wonder of the world. And the kids can't really appreciate it for what it is. This experience was the best of both worlds, and THAT is what made is so special, freaky puppets or not.

There's A Lightbulb In My Bum...and Other Things We Teach The Mayor

Now if Ace and I aren't anything else, we are complete, idiotic goofballs. While Ace tries to somewhat hide this fact from everyone but me and The Mayor, I personally celebrate my absolute stupidity and ridiculousness. Having a good sense of humor, being silly and making fun of myself, and having the ability to laugh when I'd rather cry, are things that get me through life in a more enjoyable fashion. This silliness is such a part of who we both are that it would be no small miracle for The Mayor to grow up without this trait. We never set out to purposefully have this influence on the little guy, but it just can't be helped in our household. And this makes me very, very happy.
So, the other day, I catch Ace standing up and pretending (for The Mayor's benefit) to poop the TV remote out of his (fully clothed) bum. Of course, little dude thought this was hysterical. How could he not? I think it's hysterical and I'm older than dirt more mature. I guess it shouldn't have come as a surprise when, a day later, The Mayor walks up to me with a light bulb he's playing with (I know, safe, right?) and proceeds to pretend-poop it out of MY bum. It.Was.Awesome.
It also made me reflect on some of the other things we've been "teaching" him that probably would not gain approval from many folks, which bothers me so little that I can't even finish this sen.......
Here are some of them:

1. Whenever I ask a question such as "Who wants to go to the playground?", I've taught The Mayor to raise his hand and say "Me!". This also works with "Who smells like a turdbucket?", "Who wants to go fart on Daddy while he naps?", and many, many other useful questions. I was so excited the day he learned this that I pooped a remote looked for a "Proud Parent of..." bumper sticker, although never found one that fit well. 
2. Pretty much anytime Jack does, says, or accomplishes anything, he applauds himself and says "Yaaayyyy!". This is particularly hilarious when he...OK, it's funny pretty much all of the time. You just can't help but to smile at a 2 year old cheering for himself for throwing something in the trashcan or finishing his pancakes. 
3. And one of my favorites that I didn't even teach him, and am not sure how he learned. If he's around a group of adults (especially more than just me and Ace) and we all laugh at a joke or moment of conversation, The Mayor picks up on this and will, literally, throw his head back and laugh like he's totally in on the joke. Which just makes everyone laugh that much harder. 

While this quality is super awesome and fun in a toddler, I really hope it helps him throughout his life to be able to always see the funny side of things and to not take himself or anyone else too seriously. If more adults would just learn to pretend-poop stuff out of their bums instead of yelling at their kids or kicking the dog, wouldn't the world be a more enjoyable place? In my opinion, Yes and Yesser.