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10 Ways To Tell That You're A Mom Of Young Kids

There are toys... everywhere.
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So as my kids get older and I am out of the "young kids" phase of my life, I was reflecting back on when my girls were little and remembering all of the things that marked this time in our lives as unique. So here 10 of those things. If you are a mom of young children, perhaps you can relate.

#1. There are toys... everywhere.

I don't know about you but when my children were little they wouldn't play anywhere but two feet in front of where a grown up was. Going downstairs to the play room? Heresy!! Bringing all of the toys up from the playroom and playing at your feet? More like it. Now that they are older and not that afraid of the basement anymore we have taken our living room back from the toy invasion. Crap! Just sat on a Barbie. Never mind.

#2. You catch yourself humming the PawPatrol or PjMasks theme song...in public.

In my day it was Dora, Diego, and BubbleGuppies. But you get the idea. This will happen even if you aren't with your kids at that moment. You will absentmindedly be humming a song thinking to yourself, 'yah I'm pretty cool. I'm still up on the latest music' and then moments later in horror you'll realize it was the PawPatrol theme song you were humming. Yup. Not cool. But you're kids will think you are cool. And the mom picking out produce next to you at the grocery store will smile sympathetically at you. So that's something right?

#3. You fall asleep on the couch watching TV Every night.

Trying to squeeze out some precious me time of course. So we probably all know what that feeling is when the dishes are finally done, laundry load is in, kids bathed and in bed and you are sitting down for the first time all day. Time for some much needed "me time." Must. Stay. Awake. To. Enjoy. It. If we were wise we'd just go to bed right away and skip the middle man but a day doesn't quite seem complete without trying to squeeze out that bit of time on the couch.

#4. You have stepped on Lego and have the scars to prove it.

Every parents' nemesis is the little piece of Lego meeting up with your bare feet as you go to check on your kids before bed. It happens people. You get used to it.

thebang

#5. Your dog eats more of what you made for supper than your kids.

I often wonder what people with young kids and no dog do? Do they really have to sweep between every meal? I just had to position my dog directly underneath the high chair and voila! Instant hoover.

#6. The last good book you read was Green Eggs and Ham.

No novels for you! We can only read once the kids have gone to bed because if they see us sit down at all, they are pretty sure that's an invitation to: ask for a snack or help with a puzzle or some other such activity. And of course we all know what happens when you try to read your novel after the kid's bedtime. Zzzzzzzzz. So enjoy Green Eggs and Ham. It's actually a pretty good book.

#7. Your car has more crumbs than the food waste bag.

I thought for sure I would hold out and keep my car food free, but when you are running from here to there or taking a longer road trip, it's basic survival. So there you go! Crumbs. Everywhere.

#8. Your pantry currently holds seven different kinds of cereal.

We need options people. A child that likes a kind of cereal one day might detest it the next, so we need to make sure to have extras on hand to avoid the morning struggle. An ounce of prevention.. And all that.

#9. You endure waking your child every weekday but they are up at the crack of dawn on Saturday.

Why? Why? Why? I just don't get it, but it seems pretty universal so I had to just learn to live with it. One day they'll be teenagers. They'll sleep then..so I've heard.

Robert Houser

#10. You can't take a picture on your phone because it's full.

I know there's a simple solution to this. Just dump your photos onto your computer hard drive. It can't be that hard can it? When I have the time to do it I'll let you know. In the mean time whenever my child does something spectacular (which is obviously quite often), it's a race against time to erase enough toddler selfies in order to free up the memory space to take a picture. Spoiler alert: It never works out in time.

So there you have it, 10 things that make being a mom of young kids unique. I would be pleased to say that we have outgrown all these items but we have not. Maybe as we enter the tween and teen years? In 10 years if you see me still struggling to erase enough photos on my phone to take a picture of my daughter in her graduation gown then I might have to realize that the problem stems from me and not from being a mom of young kids at all. Perhaps it's finally time to learn how to dump my photos onto the hard drive once and for all.

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