Peanut Butter in the Air Vent
Becoming a parent is wonderful, delightful, exhausting – and a whole lot of other things, too.
But mostly exhausting.
And wonderful.
I’ve always called it Nature’s Great Sleep Deprivation Experiment. It’s been ongoing for millennia and hopefully, will continue much longer.
That said, there is one thing I recommend. It’s what I wish I had done. It’s 30 years too late for me, though.
Write stuff down. Not the height and weight, not what foods the baby has tried, or how many diapers you went through today.
Write down the stuff you never expected. Because there will be a lot of it.
Most of it, I don’t remember (that whole 30 years thing combined with sleep deprivation…) but the few things I do remember are just bizarre.
When my daughter was two, I remember saying to her, “No, we don’t put peanut butter in the air vent.” And yes, there was just reason to say that.
I am sure that when we moved from that house, there were emery boards and coins down there.
I remember being the evil mom who made her take off 8 pairs of socks. (She had 9 on. They were cutting off the circulation.)
But all these years later, much of those years are a blur of the daily routine, the routine quirkiness she brought to our lives, and the routine frustrations that go hand in hand with parenting.
Back then, there were no social media platforms, blogging is a term that hadn’t come into existence yet, and I sometimes could vent with friends. When I couldn’t – I just had to cope as best I could.
I think if I had had something like HOLD – Hearing Out Life Drama, it could have been a good alternative for venting, when it was something not appropriate for friends or my husband to hear. Because having that relief of not feeling alone can get you to the next day sometimes.
And maybe help you laugh over the things you will add to your notebook.
Label it, “Peanut butter in the air vent.” You’ll know why.
Linda Nielsen is a mother whose heart has been wandering outside her body for three decades, blog writer and video content creator for HOLD Hearing Out Life Drama for much less. She has reached an age where she regrets not knowing then what she knows now – and doubts that she will apply as much of that moving forward as she wishes.
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