The Lameness of Parenthood

The new Toyota commercials say "Just Because you're a parent, it doesn't mean you have to be lame." Well, I beg to differ. ;) I thought I was the only one who found that commercial odd, then one of my best friends posted the quote on her facebook page, saying that basically parenting is what makes us lame! Haha, I have to agree. I must admit, I was lame long before Tucker was born. But I have gotten much worse as Tucker has gotten older. On Thanksgiving night, Tucker went to hit Molli, and I called to him from across the room: "Tucker, we have hugging hands, not hitting hands," and he stopped immediately. Gina and her friend Jenee busted out laughing and told me I had hit a new level of nerd. But it worked! So who cares, right? I told the girls that Tucker's teacher made up the phrase, not me, so therefore I was still a little bit cool. I have said, "Use your words," "Tucker is a big boy and he can wait," and various phrases that I never thought I would use. Even without the special needs component, parenting changes a person fundamentally. Sleep has become a precious commodity. When we have a babysitter, we have traded late nights with our friends for early dinners then a full night's sleep. (We do still occasionally have late nights, but it takes much longer to recover, haha.) I discuss my child's bodily functions in public, and over meals. When my son gets very upset, I have resorted to singing, no matter where we are. I assume people would rather hear me singing "What's gonna work? Teamwork?" or "Hot Dog Hot Diggety Dog" as opposed to my son crying, but I could be wrong about that. I have gotten up early on the day that tickets go on sale to get online, hoping to be lucky enough to get front-row seats....then being way too excited when we get aisle seats on the 4th row....not for Jason Aldean or Keith Urban (my favorites), but for Elmo Live! There was a time when I had frequent buyer Rewards cards at Best Buy and Barnes and Nobles, now I have cards for Toys R Us, Whole Foods, and CVS. I still have the old cards, but the CVS card gets much more use. I have learned that my son functions much better within rules, routines, and limits. It is not fun to give him these limits and make him follow the rules....but it is my job. If that makes me lame, so be it. I have been called worse;)