Apparently I Am Still at Junior Mom Status

I pride myself on knowing a bit more than my husband about kids.

Okay. A LOT MORE. (He doesn't read this, so what do I care about offending him? Never stopped me before... heh).

I mean, I've been around kids, in one capacity or another, my whole entire life. I babysat for years, and worked daily with children with various disabilities, and I'm pretty decent with the young ones. Sure, I needed a diaper changing refresher, a "how-to-get-a-child-to-sleep-off-my-boob" tutorial, and still need some help with the whole broken bone thing, but all in all, I'm good. Kids like me DAMNIT.

I have gotten picky kids to eat something other than candy, I can distract a child from an extremely painful blood draw with an amazing song and dance routine (for which I garner quite a pretty penny), and I can usually win over even the shyest and most cautious of all children with my charm and pretty cool accents.

However, it was made apparent to me today at the grocery store that I have yet to earn my "wings," because without even thinking twice, I bought my daughter the following:

1) Pooh Rubber Ink Stampers
2 A Harmonica

Go ahead. Whip me with a wet noodle.

Maybe I'll get my promotion next year.

Comments

[Jamie]

The stampers aren't quite as bad as my buying my 8 month old son finger paints and letting him loose on the floor in my kitchen. I actually expected him to stay on the paper, not crawl around the whole house with paint on his hands and knees.

[sinsamantha]

A harmonica isnt that bad, i bought one for my son when he was about a year old. And to tell the truth i spent more time playing with it than he did. =)

[Mom101]

I can sympathize because yesterday, my mom saw a baby plinky-plonky piano and said, ,"wouldn't this be a great gift for her?"

And I said, "yeah!"

[Mary Tsao]

The harmonica I can live with. The ink stampers? No way, Jose. Never again. The day I woke up to Dora and Boots all over my windowsills and walls was the day I threw out my daughter's ink stampers.

Ink stampers are not welcome in my house. I can tell you're going for cool mom of the year award. Good luck to you!

[kate]

Please share your off-the-boob-sleeping secret. I'm dying here. Pretty please?

[zygote daddy]

Come on, this is great news! Delta blues are coming back! In the long run, isn't your sanity a small price to pay for a valuable addition to the western canon?

What, too ivory tower?

[wordgirl]

A harmonica???? Woman, are you completely mad????

[Nancy]

A mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do sometimes...

[joy]

ha! yep--i hear that loud and clear. we bought jack an entire box of instruments for christmas--harmonica, drums, maracas, the lot... the harmonica was the favorite, and was nearly the end of us all, i tell ya!

the pooh stamps--if you just bring them out with supervised play (something i have heard about but have not done;-)) then she can just stamp away quietly. not so bad.

[Lisa B]

It is KILLING me that I haven't been able to check on your blog each day. Gah. But the stampers and a harmonica? YOu KNOW she's gonna get both items out when you have a mother of a migraine! :-)

[Latte Man]

Just wait until you get to the "sticker stage"

[Melissa]

You bought your almost two year old child a harmonica? Are you NUTS? Actually let her play with it for a few days, then lose it in the trash. Or better yet, save it and let her have it one morning when you are pissed at your husband and then tell her, play it for daddy.

[fidget]

those type of things are reserved for gifts from evil childless relatives or those who's kids have all grown up!

[Becky]

Girl, I hate to tell you..You never graduate...they always WIN...always...

[Stephanie A.]

Yesterday I realized that grocery stores and kids just don't mix. My boy is only 8 months old, but wow the hands were already everywhere. And then other kids were putting baby items in our cart. We appreciated the baby yogurt, but oh-the-chaos!

[cyndi]

ROTFLAMO!!!!!!!!!

Stamps.........harmonica..........hahahahahahahaha.

The last time we had stamps in the house, my son was wearing diapers with pink stamped butterflies on them for a week.

[tracey]

I gave all the youngters in our "playgroup" really cool little accordians for christmas. Do I need to tell you that all of the mothers still hate me for it??

Will we ever learn?

[Crunchy Carpets]

Almost every hotwheels that Adam owns was bought at the grocery store for 'being a good boy.'

I have learned to avoid and or "lose" the noisy toys though.

[Andrea]

Oh my. I'm not going to judge. But if you need to come over to my place for a drink, just come on over. Don't even bother to knock. Just come on in. But you might have to step over the play drum and tambourine set, the battery-eating fire truck with the extendable ladder, or the alphabet teacher/steering wheel thingy majig.

[Saartje]

Whip you with a wet noodle? Nah. The purchases are their own punishment.

[Kristin]

was there not a small drum set or 675 piece polly pocket kit you could have thrown in for shits and giggles?

[fizzle]

The harmonica is the most shocking. I mean, with a kid, your house is usually destroyed and dismembered ten times a day with clutter/spilled ink/spilled food/vomit, etc. So stamp pad is just a pretty color to the mess.

Harmonica, tho...I cringe at the thought....

[FishyGirl]

A dear friend of mine bought TheBoy (and yes, she's still my friend) a drum with maracas, bells, and other noisy things helpfully nestled inside. When he was 1. For his birthday. At least she asked me to be her kid's godmother - paybacks are hell.

And the stamper? I am a grown up rubber stamp artist - that one should be water based, but if it's not, Magic Erasers. My favorite cleaning tool.

[nonlineargirl]

Everyone makes mistakes.

[Beth]

Yeah, my wonderful MIL actually brought hubby's old harmonica for Claire to play with.
Nice. real nice.

[Her Bad Mother]

In an effort to facilitate release of WonderBaby's tyrannical energies (and becuase they were beautiful hand-crafted things, and called out to me in the store), she has been given access to: a tambourine, maracas, jingle bells, bongo drums and cymbals.

The harmonica is still in the box, but it's coming.

I know.

[mothergoosemouse]

Tacy had a harmonica too. For about five minutes. I hid it so well that even I can't remember where it is.

And stampers? Dude. I hope you bought a few Mr. Clean Magic Erasers too.

[Chase]

I LOVE stamps! I would have bought her it, too.

One of my favorite things when I started my own business was getting to use the "paid" and "copy" stampers. Heheh!

[Bri]

Does not knowing what Pooh Stompers are make me a junior junior mom? Will I/Have I unwittingly purchased items similar thereby relinquishing my status as Queen Mom of the House? :P

The harmonica - that's just self abuse!

[MetroDad]

I don't know what a Pooh stamper is but I'm already afraid! However, I will say that we got my daughter a harmonica and she loves it. Whenever she's feeling down, she goes to the corner, blows on her harp, and plays some serious blues.

Ok, not really. But it's fun to imagine.

[Jenny]

I feel your pain. I bought Hailey a Mr. Microphone. She uses it to scream "IT'S OVER!!!" when Sesame Street is done.

[supa]

The harmonica doesn't bother me. The pooh stampers, though ... well, we all make mistakes :)

[Karen]

My two year old Ted brings a harmonica into his crib with him. He sleeps with it, no joke, beneath his pillow. When he wants to get up he plays the blues.

[Carmen]

Oh, man, you did it now.

Pooh stampers AND a harmonica????

I feel so sorry for you!

Not to worry, I've done the same thing myself a time or two. Your sanity will soon return.