Does the mother still exist that wipes her son’s cheek with some spit on a kleenex?  Am I the only one on the planet that overlooks the need for the preening of a small child before leaving the house (or at least a clothes/hair/face check)?  Or is the inability to get out of the house clean and tidy AND on time something I will simply have to let go of for the next, oh, say twenty years?

Last week I was out with Jaden - and whenever we go out it seems as though I’m in a hurry.  We’re seldom actually late, but we always have to get ready and run out the door.  On the day in question, I was out walking with Jaden, having rushed out the door with barely enough time to get myself ready, let alone him.  I looked at his shirt - his favourite red shirt; then his pants, a lovely greenish brown..hmm I thought, does that match?  I looked at his jacket, bright orange, and knew I definitely had not paid enough attention while dressing him that morning.  I knew full well I had the standby should anyone question my abilities “Oh, he picked that out himself”, but the truth was, I did.  Whoops.  At least I could say with a straight face that owing to my pregnancy I’m on a severe caffeine deficit.

Then I looked at his cherubic face - with breakfast all over it in a subtle fashion (thankfully we don’t eat anything neon…).  There was the granola, banana and juice dried up as though saved for some later snack.  Yikes.  Now, I frequently notice that I seem to forget the face wipe after breakfast.  We’re just so busy the thought doesn’t even cross my mind about how messy he looks.  But the icing on the cake that day was definitely his hair.  Bed head was an understatement - if two strands of his hair were going in the same direction I may have been excused, but such was not my luck that day.  I wonder how different it would be if I had had a little girl?  Would she remind me?  Truly Jaden could care less (I’m thankful for small miracles).  And also, at least his clothes were clean (notice how now I’m justifying my lack of ability at proper preening?).

I had no choice but to laugh, being already out in public.  Jaden’s hair is as unruly as he can be, so patting it down was out of the question, and of course since we had just gotten over colds, I didn’t even have a kleenex to pull out, just like our own mothers used to do.  Maybe he runs too fast to be noticed….