A Mom's Perspective

There is a long list of things that used to gross me out before I was a parent. Now, they are just an everyday deal, a part of life. Here's a partial list, off the top of my head:

• snot on face/hands/clothes
• boogers on face/hands/clothes/every reachable-to-toddler-hands surface
• soppy baby cereal on face/hands/table/highchair
• half-eaten baby puffs or fruit or toast
• someone else's drink
• someone else drinking out of my drink
• baby poop in all its varieties (brocco-poopy, people...that's all I'm sayin')
• baby spit-up
• vomit

Oh don't get me wrong--I still don't like any of those things. But I deal with them in an off-hand manner that I know our non-parent friends find at best bemusing and at worst, well, gross! Half-eaten, soggy-with-saliva food gets handled and tossed bare-handed, with hand washing done after all clean-up activities are completed. My DD drinks out of my drink on a regular basis, now that I'm convinced she doesn't backwash as much since I don't see big chunks of whatever she's eating in my glass (I conveniently ignore the fact that I've made it a rule that she has to finish eating whatever she's gnawing on before being allowed to drink from my cup). DH & I joke about what kind of poop we are going to find in DS' diaper based on his newest food group. And I really do not know how we lived without baby wipes to clean up just about anything before.

I still strongly dislike projectile vomit, sour milk spit-up, or really vomit of any kind, to be honest. Likewise I have developed a strong loathing for cleaning up urine, although DS eating it or peeing on things doesn't distress me too much since I know urine is sterile coming out of the body, yada yada yada. There's the REAL benefit of my science education! *LOL* DD's accidents bother me because I know that she knows better and she chooses not to do so, in the cases of a deliberate accident (not enough attention, being naughty beforehand). So cleaning up that is more annoying than the times she is too busy playing to stop and use the potty. You know what I mean...they just KNOW the difference at some point.

Anyway, I clean all of that up without a second thought. It's a normal part of my life. I think this is the thing that is really impossible for the non-parent to understand. It's just so a part of your day that you don't bat an eyelash at it any more. I realize that some golden day in the distant future, I will not be dealing with these things on a regular basis, but then I will probably be worrying about broken limbs and blood and will be quite accustomed to bloody scrapes and cuts, etc. When the ever nebulous "they" talk about the joys of parenthood, I think this ought to be included in the Full Disclosure Form, don't you?