Spelling on Autopilot
Posted by Arwen Mosher in Family on Friday, December 04, 2009 10:46 PM
My husband and I got the chance to go out to dinner alone together this evening, a rare treat that we appreciate very much.
The couple at the next table over had their baby with them, and he was very cute. I admired him from a distance. But as Bryan and I enjoyed drinks and chatted over the bread basket, not even a little part of me wished we had our own baby with us. He would’ve been squirming in the high chair and trying to grab everything on the table, and one of us would have been wrestling with him while the other one tended the preschooler’s needs. Sitting in peace with my husband was much more enjoyable.
We discussed topics unrelated to our children, and for a few minutes I felt like my pre-motherhood self. I’m so used to changing diapers and fixing snacks all day that it felt bizarre - but relaxing! - to be out of Mom Mode.
As dinner neared its close, we discussed how we should use the rest of our two hours of babysitter time, and I suggested hitting a store to equip St. Nicholas for his visit to our house this Sunday. “We need to buy…” I leaned my head close to my husband’s, “some c-a-n-d-y.”
He laughed, and it took me a minute to realize that I’d been spelling automatically. Our daughter, the one who usually demands candy when I say that word instead of spelling it, was several miles away. It turns out it doesn’t take very much to slip me back into Mom Mode!
I’m a parent now. Enjoying a bellini and a plate of pasta in a restaurant, no matter how relaxed it helps me feel, will never change that. Thank goodness!
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