Posts Tagged "dirt"

Dirt is not a bad thing

Posted by cafebebemama on May 10, 2010 in Little Miss Adventures, Motherhood | 11 comments

I’m learning that dirt is not a bad thing.  This is a difficult lesson for me to learn but I am trying, and I believe, learning quite well.  You see, I’m not a huge fan of dirt.  I am a bit of a girly girl.  I know, it’s hard to believe.  Especially of a girl who wears a tiara and dresses her daughter almost exclusively in shades of pink. (albeit functional pinks…we don’t do frilly fluff)

I’ve been a bit of a Hovering Mummy.  But I’m learning to let go.  I used to sweep in at the first sign of mess, with a wipe at the ready.  Let’s face it, I still do that somewhat but I’m learning to at least let the dirt have a chance with Little Miss before it’s obliterated.  And I do let Little Miss make a mess when she’s eating.  I don’t think she’s neurotic about food or mess.  I think it’s down to wanting to have a presentable child.  Perhaps down to my need for others to perceive me as being a proper mummy by seeing my child as neat and tidy?  Yes, I suppose I should seek psychological help!

Little Miss is nearly two years old.  She’s loves being outside and we’re trying to teach her about food and gardening so she knows where her food comes from.  The picture above was taken as we started our gardening adventure.  Little Miss was more than eager to dig in, literally, to the compost bag and help Daddy (much to his consternation).  She loves to help us water the seedlings and is more than eager to go out with Grandad and tend to the tomatoes (much to his consternation I’m sure).

Yesterday we went to the inlaws to spend the afternoon and tend to our future harvest.  Little Miss practised her watering technique and we found that our seedlings are actually becoming PLANTS!  Who knew??  But the real test to Mummy’s mettle came later in the afternoon when we took a walk up the road.  My inlaws live in a glorious little hamlet on a one-track road.  It’s the perfect place for any Little Miss to explore and enjoy.  And it has the occasional muddy puddle.

Little Miss ended up SOAKED!  Muddy water IN her wellies; Muddy water up her legs; Muddy water soaked through to her onesie!  “I blame you” I said to hubby.  But I didn’t mind…really.  I want her to have fun; to get wet and dirty and not be a nutter like her mother.  So I stayed out of it.  Well, I definitely stayed out of the mud but I stayed out of HOVER mode.  And got some lovely pictures in the process.  But wait…it got harder for me when we went home!

Hubby decided, upon returning home, that the 50 degree (Farenheit…I’m American and still don’t do well with Celcius…I suppose it was about 10 degrees??) Sunday afternoon, gloomy weather was a good time to plant our strawberry plants in the giant terra cotta planter we had laying around.  Of course, Little Miss HAD to help her Daddy.

Aw, precious!  And Mummy only was twitching a little bit.  But do you know what came next?  Well, hubby put the sprinkler in the garden after Little Miss had helped him spread compost all over the grass.  Little Miss took one look at that spray and headed straight for it!  Despite the air and water temperatures, she was in it!  Running through it, jumping over it, having her breath taken away by it.  She was soaked AGAIN!  However, I was prepared.  I had run a warm, bubbly bath and as soon as the novelty of the sprinkler wore off and the shivering settled in, hubby helped me to scoop her up and deposit her in the bath.  Done!  Dirt gone, order restored.  One very happy girl and one very happy mummy.  Dirt is not a bad thing after all.  It’s my new mantra.

The Yuck Factor

Posted by cafebebemama on Aug 29, 2009 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

As I was wiping a bit of snot off my daughter’s nose the other day, I began to wonder…at what point did this become OK?  I have been thrown up upon, bled on, snotted on, drooled on; I have had all manner of food smeared onto me and my clothes; I have cleaned up poo in all sorts of places.  I am a Mummy.

I remember when I used to get all upset over little stains.  If I did this now, I’d never leave the house!  Now, I measure the reuse value of the clothes I wear by how MANY stains are on them and how blatently obvious those stains are.  I suppose I have become a bit of a Slummy Mummy in that respect. 

But isn’t it funny, or perhaps a little OCD, that I won’t let Little Miss go out with stains on her clothes or snot in her nose or messed up hair?  I like Little Miss to be clean and pretty!  This doesn’t mean that she’s in ruffly taffeta dresses and patent leather shoes…no, no, no.  My Little Miss is a wash and wear girl.  Comfy trousers, onesies and t-shirts with the very occasional comfortable cotton dress.  She always looks presentable, my Little Miss.  And I suppose the reason for that is because I wouldn’t ever want someone to look at my daughter and judge me as a bad parent.  You’ve seen those children who have crusty noses, dirty faces and ice cream stains around their mouth and down their shirt?  I have!  And what do I tend to think?  I think that perhaps their Mummy should take a little more care.  But maybe that Mummy is a better Mummy than me because she’s letting her child be A CHILD.  Getting dirty is a part of childhood, isn’t it?

I don’t know?  Do we have to be REALLY dirty?  Maybe just a little dirty is ok but not too much.  Get the wipes!  Get the Carex Hand Gel!  Quick, quick!  Some of my quirks may have rubbed off on Little Miss, however.  When she gets dirt or dog hair on her hands, she holds her hands up to me and goes “aaaccckkk” and sticks her tongue out.  She digs in the dirt in the garden and whilst saying “digga digga digga” she’s brushing any dirt off her.  When our dog has pooed in the garden, she readily points it out to us until we collect it off the grass and put it in a bag.  When Little Miss was wee, I painted her hands with paint to make a pressie for Daddy and she absolutely screamed the house down!  She didn’t like the feeling of it and most certainly did not like the fact that her hand and foot were now covered in red paint!  Is this a bad thing?  Maybe it is!  

I’m doing my best to come to terms with my obsessive compulsive habits and trying NOT to let it totally rub off on Little Miss.  I do let her play in the rain after all!  So, if you do see Little Miss and me out and about, she’ll be looking lovely and I’ll be the Mummy with a few too many stains and the Milton wipes at the ready!  Just gently take the wipe from my hand and say “Let it go, Mummy”.  And we’ll all feel better for that!