Sunday, May 8, 2022

Mother's Day Memories...

HALLIE EPHRON: Among the best gifts of motherhood, ones that no one has to pay for or wrap up, are memories. One of my favorites is the time my 4-month-old firstborn could not… would not go to sleep. Collicky, she’d had us hopping up and down most of the night.

The final straw came when I’d barely put her down when she was screaming again. Her diaper needed changing (yet again). A new mom, exhausted and angry, I was at my lowest ebb.

I got her cleaned up and literally threw her back into her crib. If there’d been an open window, I’d have been sorely tempted to toss her out of it. It was at that moment she chose to give me her very first 100 watt smile. Darwin would have been proud.

My favorite memory of her younger sister comes from her toilet training. She loved to sit on the potty chair, “reading” a book. Sitting. Turning pages. Sitting. Announcing, “All done.” Standing. Wiping her belly button. And peeing on the floor. It still cracks me up.

Are there memories you cherish from the kids in your life this Mother’s Day?

RHYS BOWEN: Clare and Annie playing at nuns, aged 2 and 3. Both with towels around their heads (Clare went to Catholic pre-school) Annie, ever the cheeky one, in my white seventies high boots. Clare turned to her frowning. “Don’t clomp, Annie. God does not like noisy nuns!”

Another fond memory, and one that embarrasses Dominic. We had Beverly Cleary to stay at our house in Texas when she came for a writer’s conference I was involved in. The next afternoon a ring at our front door. I opened it. Dominic, aged 2 or 3, is standing there, my purse over his arm. “Good afternoon,’ he said. “I am Beverly Cleary.” Still makes me smile.

My kids were always playing creative and inventive games, putting on plays and carnivals, never bored. And have grown up to be wonderful, creative adults.

JENN McKINLAY: The Hooligans gave me a lot to laugh about so I’ll pick their best literary moments as it is a writer’s blog :)

Beckett was ten and prone to leaving his breakfast dishes on the dining table. I said, “Put your dishes in the sink. We don’t have house elves.” He gasped, stared at me wide-eyed and said, “You gave them clothes?” Kid didn’t miss a beat with the Harry Potter reference. LOL.

Wyatt was seven and I announced that we were reading The Hobbit at bedtime. He asked what it was about and I said, “A fifty-year-old Hobbit named Bilbo Baggins.” He made a face like he smelled something bad and said, “I don’t want to read about a fifty-year-old Hobbit. He’ll probably just throw his back out.” LOL.

HANK PHILLIPI RYAN: As you know I was just at my grandson Joshua‘s Bar Mitzvah. He is constantly adorable, has been from day one, but at age 6, at the Passover table, he asked if we wanted to hear a song. Of course we wanted to hear a song! And he burst into a perfectly rendered version of Uptown Funk. I mean the whole thing. Word for word.

But his most classic came when he was a bit younger. His father tells the story of when he and little Joshua were sitting in the park, watching Joshua‘s idolized soccer players walk by and Paul would say “ Soccer team!“ and Joshua would gleefully answer. “Yes!”

Then his mother and older brother Elijah started walking toward them, and Paul said “Soccer team!”

And Joshua apparently looked at him, all perplexed, and said: “Dat’s Mummy and Yiyjuh. They not soccer. They Us!

LUCY BURDETTE: Being a parent and helping kids grow up to be decent human beings is hard! I'm going with 'a picture is worth a thousand words' and showing you some funny moments from our grandchildren...

Here Thea didn't quite have the knack of how useful hands could be, but she figured something out...



And this one is Henry multitasking with toys while showing Grampy some basketball moves...

And finally, here's the new baby, Cal, who spends lots of time absorbing the action around him. (Doesn't this remind you of Hallie's cover for YOU'LL NEVER KNOW DEAR?)


Happy Mother's Day everyone--because everyone does their share of mothering someone!

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I’ve got one for the “child of a writer” folder. I got my first contract before Youngest was a year old, so she grew up with a working author as her mother. When she was around three or four, my mom gave her a toddler-sized “rollerboard” so she could have her very own suitcase for trips to Grammy’s house.

Soon, Youngest was the only child in our part of Maine playing “Book Tour.” She would arrive at my office door with a baby doll in one hand and the rollerboard in another. She’d give the baby to me, with instructions to take good care of her. Then she’d wave and head out of the office. “Goodbye! I’m going on book tour!” She would return from the tour a few minutes later - sometimes with a book as a gift - and ask me detailed questions on how the baby had done in her absence. When I asked, she always assured me the tour had gone very well. 

The book tour baby is a graduate!



DEBORAH CROMBIE: I am loving all these stories. They make me wonder what hints our kids gave us about what they'd be like as adults. My daughter is so professional, so organized and successful at her work–where did she get that, I wonder?? But my parents had their own business and worked from home, and Kayti's favorite thing to do from toddler onward was to "play office." She'd pull everything out of the supply closet and entertain herself for hours with legal pads, pencils, paper clips, etc. Now my six-year-old granddaughter is watching British detective shows. Hmm.

Happy Mother's Day, everyone!

HALLIE: Hoping you all have memories to share, courtesy of the children that you've nurtured.


 

73 comments:

  1. Memories are definitely a wonderful gift . . . .

    One of my favorite memories involved going to the library, which was just a few blocks from the house. One book apiece was never an option; we always left with an armload of books, all of which had to be read the moment we got home. We’d snuggle on the sofa and read, then they’d take turns “reading” the books to each other . . . .

    Happy Mother’s Day!

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    1. The library played a big part in my childhood as well! One night a week we would go to the library and load up with books. But also, sometimes, when my mom had errands to run, (she was a single mom), she'd drop my brother and me at the library and come back later. She used to say the library was our baby sitter. To this day, I just feel so great when I walk into a library.

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    2. Elizabeth, that's priceless--your mom was so smart. And you must have been fairly well behaved or wouldn't the librarians have complained?

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    3. Joan, love picturing the scene you described!

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    4. This is SO SWEET! Being read-to is one of my fondest memories of my mother. After dinner (she worked all day) sharing my first Oz book.

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  2. Thank you for sharing these delightful stories, Reds. My first born was a very early talker, with clear, articulate speech (with two PhD linguists as parents, you can bet we were paying close attention). While visiting my mom in California, we happened across a field of cows. Allan, barely two, said, "Look at the central cow, Grandma Mac." She was impressed!

    #2 was a short kid and he loved a particular book about giants. He couldn't yet read, but he had nearly memorized the book. He would turn the pages and "read" to me.

    Best Mother's Day gift - they BOTH will be here, sweethearts in hand, in a few hours!

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    1. Enjoy! I've got my older daughter here with me today - she made me pancakes! Or as she used to call them: pan-a-cakes.

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  3. My stomach is hurting from the laughs this morning! What charmingly creative children you all have in your lives. The loud nuns made me choke on my coffee.

    My oldest daughter, eyeing my sister's pregnant middle as we were discussing the "baby in there", turned to me, pointing at my sister, and sotto voce, said, "Mommy, do the beans fall on the baby's head when Aunt Bobbie eats?" Logic!

    Robin, at the end of first grade, decided she and Holly would have "school" every day, curriculum and all. It was all going well until one day she stomped downstairs from the playroom, indignantly complaining that Holly wouldn't do her homework. Holly, who was three at the time.

    I spent some time showing the girls what they could eat in the garden, especially in the herb patch. Sweet little Holly came in and snuggled up, turned my head to look at her, and then breathed fumes of chive blossom breath right in my face.

    Happy Mother's Day to all!

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    1. My son used to do that chive breath thing, too. He was very little and I'm convinced someone taught him to do that.

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    2. My grands took to the basil... and onion grass. Made me glad I'd never used any chemicals on the lawn... ever...

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    3. The girls learned how to suck honey from the clover and honeysuckle, and we made violet syrup, and they would pick and eat peas and strawberries straight from the plants. We would have eaten dandelions, too, if I'd known then how much of the plant was edible. They have fond memories of "grazing" in the backyard. LOL

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    4. My kids would eat peas and beans from the plant - but not in the house!

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  4. I have no children of my own, but I love being an auntie. When one of my grandnephews was still a little guy, I was at their house for a picnic. Tyler and I sat side by side on the steps outside their house. I noticed his little sneakers had ants from the movie Antz marching across the velcro fasteners. I pointed to them and said, "You have Antz on your shoes." He looked at them and then at me and in a very serious (and gruff for a little kid) voice told me, "Aw, dem ain't real."

    Silly auntie.

    Happy Mother's Day!

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  5. What sweet memories of well loved children. I have none of my own, but it brings me great joy to hear stories of yours...

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  6. Happy Mother's Day! Loved your stories, especially Youngest being ready for book tour.
    Enjoy the day!!

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    1. P.S. I am working on saving my baby beets. I woke up to a loud crash before 6:30 am and found two shattered pots on the ground below, and some dug up arugula plants on the balcony floor. 2022 score: Grace 8, Satan 2,

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    2. Oh no Grace--in the middle of the night! He is a devil...

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    3. Grace: I started beets in the cold frame. I lifted the lid one day and left it open. The critters had a field day.

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    4. Cute but oh so annoying... I'm rooting for the beets.

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  7. And ps everyone, whether we have biological children or not, we all do some mothering, don't you think? Hats off to every one of you!

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    1. Nice sentiment, Lucy. Let's also celebrate the wives, daughters, aunties, etc. who care for others and make lives more joyful

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    2. Exactly! As someone wise once said, it takes a village.

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    3. Yes! There are lots of "mother adjacent" relationships, Roberta.

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  8. Happy Mother's Day to one and all

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  9. Yesterday I rummaged through my grandson's bookcase and pulled out some old favs--Max and Ruby, Sheep in a Jeep, Where's Spot?--and something new, a finger puppet penguin inserted in a board book. My kids all had their "comfort" books (Madeline, Toad on the Road) and now Jack will have his favs. Happy Mother's Day!

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    1. I've just finished getting rid of hundreds of books but it's the children's favorites that we kept. Can't part with all the Little Bear ...

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    2. Awww. Little Bear was a cutie.

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    3. NEVER part with Little Bear, agreed.

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  10. Great stories, everyone! I especially loved Jenn's literary references. Such smart boys!!

    When Jonathan was tiny, he used to eat little meals all day, so by supper he always finished eating first and we'd let him leave the table to go downstairs and watch tv. We could hear the programs and the advertisements which were mostly for toys and games. But one evening, he came back up to the kitchen and said, "Mom, I NE-E-ED a Gut Buster." (Thank you, Cindy Sommers.) I laughed until tears rolled down my face and my stomach hurt.

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    1. Reminding me of riding in the car with my youngest who was insisting she needed some specific toy. I asked her where she thought I could get it and, after a pause, she said, "At a theater near you."

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    2. Hallie, my then-four year old middle daughter wanted to see a kid's movie, and as part of her plea she said, "It's at Feodors everywhere!"

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  11. What great stories, so fun! I have many stories about my son. A favorite was when he was about 3 and we were visiting my younger sister in Boise. We went to eat in a restaurant and Matt had a drink that came with a straw in a paper wrapper. I guess he hadn't seen many of these, so he picked it up and looked at it and then announced, "This is not a tampon."

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  12. Celia - Happy Mothers Day everyone -
    Thank you for such delightful memories. Of course my mind went blank but back to toddler days. Olivia threw herself down on the floor, screaming, just as Victor returned from work. I was angry and said, “if you’re going to scream like that, GO to your room”. She picked herself up, stopped crying and went to her bedroom where she threw herself down for a repeat. Victor looked at me and asked how I did it, got her to relocate her temper. She is the most mild mannered of adults now, until she’s not. So many memories.

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    1. You know, they are who they are. From Day One.

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  13. What great stories!

    Have a great day, all!

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    1. Fun fact: turns out that the original "Mother's day" originated in 1908 as "Mothers' Day" and intended less to venerate the art of motherhood than to support women in an attempt to wrest political control back from men who would engage in war. Not that women can't do both.

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    2. Yes! I loved Heather Cox Richardson's post about it this am.

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    3. yes, I just saw that. Timely.

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  14. Thanks for all the great stories and photos and cartoons! And Happy Mother's Day to all! Looking back, so many memories today. Once, when the boys were old enough, they begged to have a sleepover at our house. I forget how many boys--but noise ALL night long. I'm hyper-sensitive to noise when I'm tired, so I got no sleep and crawled into bed as soon as everyone was picked up the next morning. I could hear the boys in the kitchen, then after a bit, they opened my door and tiptoed in with breakfast in bed for me--scrambled eggs and toast and juice.

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  15. Happy Mother's Day to All! I loved reading these wonderful stories. I have many, many memories of my kids when they were young. My youngest was around 8 or 9 months old and in the baby backpack while I was picking blueberries. Such a happy and contented baby and I found out why when I changed his diaper the next day. He always was a good eater but I had no idea he had been busily picking berries and eating them!

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  16. This is my best Mother’s Day in decades. I’ve had my daughter and her whole family here since Monday. Finally I’ve got to meet my great grandson, Griffin. What a brilliant angel! The house is full of my children and grandchildren and great grandchildren. — and love!

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    1. Ann, I've been enjoying your photos of Griffin. He's a cutie pie.

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    2. It's also nice when they go home and peace and quiet descends once again ;-)

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    3. Amen Hallie

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  17. Great memories you all have. I love the sketch under Hallie's memories.

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    1. Thanks, Deana - that's of course my husband's Jerry's from a Mother's Day card he made me way back when.

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  18. I added a picture of my former toddler who used to go on book tour - she graduated from University of Maine this weekend (and as an honors grad, no less!) I spent all last week with my kids up in Bangor, celebrating and just sharing time together, and I can't imagine a better (pre) Mothers' Day gift.

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  19. Happy mother's day to all! I've never had children of my own, but I've mothered my godchildren. My funniest story took place in the early 1970s. As a treat, I'd taken my three year old goddaughter to I-Hop where she proceeded to carefully open and pour all of the sugars and sweet-n-lows onto her plate. That was fine, she made toddler small talk, still fine, then the child at the next table pitched a hissy. Well, ever competitive, my goddaughter began to out yell him. Normally, I could calm her, but this day, she had her reputation to uphold. My car was parked right outside the window and we were seated next to the door. I scooped her up, asked the waitress to leave our food, took her to the car, plopped her in the passenger seat, and waited. I had a book, so I read while she screamed it out. A few minutes later, she tapped me on the should and handed me something and said, "Okay, I'm finished now." I looked at my palm and discovered the knob from the stick shifter. She'd unscrewed it while she screamed. Years later, when I taught her to drive, I told her the story. After the first lesson, she volunteered to reset the seat and mirrors while I went into the house. When she followed, she handed me the shifter knob. Said she didn't want to ruin a perfectly good tradition.

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    1. HA HA HA! This is reminding me of when I gave Daughter #1 her first driving lesson in a parking lot and she broke off the turn signal knob... I'd neglected to tell her how it worked.

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    2. That's hysterical, Hallie!

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  20. My 44 year old son called me yesterday to wish me a happy Mother's Day. I'm amazed he remembered! He was at Kroger's yesterday and walked by the area where a lady was dipping strawberries into chocolate and she asked him if he wouldn't like to get some for his mother. Deadpan, he replied that his mother abandoned him. Of course she was flustered until he told her that I had moved away a few days ago. Such a brat! We love to bring up the time when he was about four and we were at a company picnic at a park in Lubbock. There was a nice big pond there and the water had carved into the sides under the grass. We warned him not to get too close to the edge but of course he ignored us. The bank gave way and he landed in the duck water, as we called it. The ducks had very obviously been there. We hauled him out, stinking and sputtering, and he was furious. At us! Another classic Adrian moment.

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  21. Love all these stories! Happy Mother's Day!

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    1. Is that a photo of your Mom and your granddaughter?

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    2. My mom and my daughter, when she was the same age my granddaughter is now.

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  22. Love all of these stories! I was reminded when reading the Nun story. I started Catholic school on my 4th birthday and I was fascinated by the Nuns' clothes. EVERYONE from the teachers to nuns to priests communicated in Sign Language. I remember coming home from school and playing Nun with a towel too.

    Happy Mother's Day!
    Diana

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  23. True confession: Mother's Day is not my favorite day. I find it difficult and I'm one of the lucky ones with my beloved mom still here and the hooligans who acknowledge the day with love and gratitude - but I really wish it was just Women's Day or Role Model Day or Whatever Day because there are so many people who could use a boost just for getting up and going forth and nurturing the world in their own unique way - every damn day.

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    1. JENN: Agreed that so many people could use a boost for getting up and nurturing the world.

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  24. Truth: All of us had mothers. In other cultures, motherhood is still venerated. In the west we set aside 24 hours to say -- kaithxsbai-- am I cynical? Perhaps. Like a few of you, I do not enjoy Mother's Day. I was too immature to appreciate it when my children lived with me. Today I can remember my mom with affection and let the rest go. I salute Gaia our ultimate mother; baked a pie for her and my daughter who helped make me a mother. Now sharing a virtual slice with y'all.

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