It's my Life!!

I don't usually try my hand at stuff like this because writing for a subject doesn't come easy, but this one really struck a chord :). Here's the challenge: What's Your Story?

Have you ever had a magical moment when you felt two strongly opposite emotions? Love/Hate? Elation/Sadness? Anger/Sympathy? The desire to move forward yet run away at the same time?

I saw this and said to myself - Sounds just like what life as a mom is all about!

• Aren't there moments all the time when you feel like you hate your children because they drive you crazy yet you know you actually love them?
• Times when you're bursting with pride and happiness because of their achievements but also overwhelmed with sadness that they're growing up and away from you?
• And especially those times when you know you should be really really angry with something that they've done, but looking at their expressions or explanations can't help but feel a little sympathetic about it ;) ?

So here I am writing as a mom(my daughter is 5.5, son is 3) who's just bursting at the seams with memories that fall under all these categories! So no fiction, no buildup, no suspense, no poetic language cos I'm definitely not an expert on any of that - but being a mom - that's what I AM :) So here goes !

On any Weekday Morning:
Start waking up the children starting from 7:00 am, keep listening to grunts and groans and excuses until finally they're up maybe by 7:30am. Same story to get them to drink their milk or eat their breakfast - everything atleast half an hour after what is planned. Not to mention the unscheduled toilet breaks in between! You really start wondering if you can keep up with this schedule every weekday for about the next 15 years!! There's that love/hate thing i was mentioning earlier.
I was an only child and always wanted to have two children so they wouldn't grow up "alone". But I had no idea that siblings could be really sweet to each other - like one stands up for the other when I scold them, but they can also beat each other up for the smallest thing! Love/Hate all over again :).

The same afternoon:
My daughter comes back from school at 3 o'clock. Before her TV time in the evening, the rule is that she must get her homework finished. When she first started doing homework - she was 3-3.5 years old, she used to need me to sit with her, ask for help with everything, be really dependent. But now at 5 and a half, she goes to her room, takes out her books, finishes her work and then comes and shows me what she's done (more because I insist on checking it than because she actually wants to!). I am so bursting with pride at my dear girl doing an entire page of addition or subtraction, and mostly correct too, within a few minutes. But I also oh so miss the days of her being a baby about it! What paradoxical creatures parents can be!!

Usually by the evening:
Just when you are unwinding and ready for the end of the day, will come all the arguments and fights between siblings, with both explaining why the other is in the wrong :). I am at the end of my patience, and really ready to boil over, but just seeing the expression on my son's face when he has done something wrong and is trying to get out of it by making a sorry face are enough to bring a smile to my face (which I hurriedly look to the side and hide - cos he already gets things a little too easy being the younger one ;)).

Bedtime:
My darling daughter still asks me to read bedtime stories, but can nearly read as well as me herself ! Goes to sleep by herself in her own bed, thought it feels like just the other night she needed me to rock her to sleep. I am currently holding on dearly to the fact that my son still needs amma to read to him.

Postscript:
Here's a link to http://www.facebook.com/closeupindia where anyone who reads this blog can post your comments (but also post here please :)!). Apparently I can win also based on your experiences/stories posted as comments :).

Linking here to fellow mommy blogger and one of my inspirations to start writing Forever Mother's entry http://crib-crib.blogspot.com/2011/01/blow-hot-blow-cold.html. Please vote for her too!