Friday, July 2, 2010

I'm a true Theta Mom-again.

Theta Mom has invited us all to write up a true Theta Post in celebration of her one year blogoversary. A while back I posted this little diddy and I love it so much that I decided to repost it today in honor of her. I hope that this isn't cheating since I had already written it but I did put my heart and soul into it when I originally wrote it.


I was tagged by Heather over at Theta Mom and Erin from The Mother Load to participate in the Theta Mom challenge. According to the lovely Heather, "Theta Moms, The True, Authentic Moms. [The-T-A] are authentic because we live authentic lives. Life isn’t perfect and neither are our kids."

I present to you five reasons why I am worthy of this title.

I suppose that my Theta Mom status started when I was pregnant with my first child. In my naivete I had always romanticized pregnancy. If I saw a woman with a big round belly, I thought that it was beautiful. To me it seemed like such a enviable state of being, to house life and feel a deep connection to womanhood. In reality, I had the worst morning sickness ever, heartburn, acid reflux, and an angry sciatica. With both of my pregnancies I gained a ton of weight. When I was pregnant with my second son the only thing that kept me from throwing up was eating a Chic-fil-a chicken biscuit every morning. I would drag my fat ass out of bed and order this delicious yet fattening breakfast come rain or shine. As I stuffed chicken into my face I realized that I did not feel beautiful. I felt fat and tired and a little bit scared of giving birth. This would be the first of many realizations about the reality of motherhood.

My oldest son Griffin gave me a run for my money when he reached toddler hood. He was one of those exuberant children that had a true lust for life. If he saw another child that he wanted to play with he would pounce on them. Literally, he would dive bomb into them, knock them over, sit on them, and then suck on their head. It was not spiteful or mean spirited but terrifying just the same. I became the mother that was in the sandbox, redirecting my sweet son to not sit on the nearest child. It was humbling and shaking sand out of my panties would be the first of many sacrifices that I would make for my scamp of a kid.

For a while, I fought with all my might to be a true western minded mama. I'm just not ever going to be. I am a co-sleeping, breastfeeding on demand, child wearing, rock em' to sleep, stay up all night snuggling, kind of mama. I am indulgent with hugs and use love and logic to discipline. I give my kid choices and get down on my knees when we communicate so that I am on his level. I don't spank or use fear tactics to parent my kids.

That being said, I will throw a kid in time out if he needs it. I'm not raising a brat over here. I use video games and Yo Gabba Gabba to entertain my kiddo if I need a break. I've been known to bribe my kid with candy. I've even let him have Skittles for breakfast. I let my kid watch Spongebob a bit too much. We stumble over toys and laundry because sometimes I just don't feel like cleaning. My first reaction when frustrated is to shout. I have to work hard everyday not to yell at my 4 year old. I get tired of hearing begging at Walmart and buy my son yet another Hot Wheels for no good reason other than I want to shop in peace. I am not perfect and sometimes I just take the easy route. I'm okay with this fact.

I could ramble on with example after example of my Theta Mom ways but instead I'll let you read them in past posts. Like how my house is covered in my son's artwork, my shaky adjustment to mothering two kids, how crazy my days can get, that I let my son run amok, and enable his addiction to video games.

Is this thing on?
Are you sill there?
This was a long post.
Thanks for sticking around.

Scroll on down to play Freakshow Friday!

15 comments:

Shelley said...

Delightful. Have a wonderful 4th of July weekend. :-)

Bossy Betty said...

All hail to thee Theta Mom!! You do indeed deserve this title!

tori said...

I love this post! You sound like an amazing mom. Anyone out there that thinks they are perfect is just plain crazy!

MommyLovesStilettos said...

Love this!! :)

Unknown said...

thank goodness I'm not the only one who raises my kid with the way I see fit instead of following the Donna Reed book of parenting...great post..and happy 4th

Joy@TPMG said...

I follow the sometimes you do what you gotta do parenting method to. It works great! Your a true Theta mom:)

Unknown said...

Forgot to mention I gave you an award...congrats!

R Montalban said...

This Theta Mom was making sure that the film crew which have been filming in our house put everything back as it was!!!

I have just sat down and read this and from what I have seen, you are doing an A1 job and I think you sound like the lovin' and logical Mom you want to be and you still kick ass being you.

Theta Mom said...

You are fabulous Leigh - and the most recent post you shared with me about your son, well, all I can say is it hit close to home...

You are authentic in every sense of the word and I knew that once I found your blog.

Thanks so much for linking up and sharing a bit of who you are - a mom who knows who she is and isn't afraid to share it.

xo

Babes Mami said...

I loved this! Rock on you theta mom you!

Susan Anderson said...

I'm glad you posted it again because I wasn't around yet for the first time...

=)

Karen Mortensen said...

You are a wonderful mother to me.

Caroline said...

Like I've always said, you are a great Mama, Leigh. Love and connection is so much more important than anything else. Sometimes the Western Way (in general) is a parenting style that focuses more on how our children appear (are they well-behaved in public? are they controlled? are they managed?) than how they feel or are developing.
We are attached parents too, and have 100% confidence that parenting from our hearts is the way to go. Definitely NOT perfect over here, but we are loving as we go and that just feels right!

LOVED this post. Hope you guys have a great 4th!

Unknown said...

Yes, you are a true mom who has gone through all of the work and emotions to meet that title. It fits. This is a great post and as we all read, we are nodding with understanding.

Thanks for sharing.

Sincerely yours,
Sarah Baron
Anonymous8

Qoddess said...

You've been quoted

http://qoddessquotesblogs.blogspot.com/2010/07/quotes-july-6-2010.html