Often, after fighting the kids to take a bath, put on their pajamas, brush their teeth, say their prayers and finally get in bed, I will come downstairs and plop onto the couch exhausted. I inevitably will declare something along the lines of, "I don't know if I have enough patience for this motherhood stuff".

Never mind that I've been at bat in the game of parenthood for over nine years. Never mind that I've uttered a sentence like that hundreds (if not thousands) of times. I always wake up the next day...or if I'm lucky, at 3:00 AM by a kid who needs to vomit...and do it all over again.

My son has a preschool project due tomorrow. He, along with my help, was to collect information about his favorite zoo animal. Tomorrow he will share his folder full of animal facts with his class. He chose a giraffe.

Being the good mother that I am, I first felt it necessary to teach him the art of procrastination, which would be why we didn't start his project until tonight. Some kids may have gone to the library, but we went to Google.

First we printed a picture. Then we researched where giraffes live, what they eat, how tall they grow, even the color of their tongue. We also created a visual aid. Then we went over, and over, and over the things he was going to say to the class. (Note to self: Don't procrastinate anything involving public speaking with your speech delayed kid.)

When we were finished, I put the folder away with a relieved sigh, and said, "There! Now you're ready to share all those facts about your favorite animal, the giraffe."

And after the 30 minute evening battle, as I tucked him into bed, my boy looked up at me and said, "Mom. My favorite animal is an elephant."

Labels: Kids, Shameless Statements