Chip off the Old Block

Remember how when you were a kid, you thought your mom might actually have super powers? I remember being truly, jaw-droppingly baffled at how she was able to figure some things out. I realize now, as an adult it was because I was stupid. I had the thought process of a child, therefore when I thought I was being sneaky, I might as well have posted a flashing neon sign in the driveway letting my parents know what I had been up to. One incident comes to mind -  my mom had bought a huge bag of those little mini boxes of nerds for Valentines day, and they were housed on the top shelf of the kitchen cabinet. My brothers and I got the really fantastic idea to make "nerd soup" with them in my tea set one day. Seems logical, right? Because after all when you think of tangy coated chunks of sugar, what sounds better than mixing them up with a little water, and extra sugar of course. So this is just what we did. However, after we had made and sampled our concoction, we apparently froze up like deer in the headlights. Now, looking back I am truly confused as to why we did not just wash this sugary mess out of the tea set and go on with our day. Instead we decided that Mom would never find out if we were really smart and just hid the nerd-soup filled tea set in the toy room. A stroke of genius. Of course you see how this story ends. The same way it would end when we would decide to mix up lotion, baby powder, calamine lotion, shampoo, and anything else we could find in the bathroom cabinet inside those little Dixie cups and then throw them in the bathroom garbage before Mom wondered what the hell we were doing in there. Amazingly enough, her superpowers would kick in and we would be found out. So my reason for bringing up the aforementioned maternal super powers is this - do you think its possible that those powers allow a mother to make things come true? As in, when your mother says to you as a child, "Someday, I hope you have a daughter/son JUST LIKE YOU!" I think its a very real possibility.

Tim was the child who I'm told by my mother-in-law took the same thing in his school lunch every day for like 6 years. Sad part is, he could still tell you what that was. Meet Trace, aka Mr. Peanut Butter and Jelly. Its not just his refusal to branch out in the culinary sense, but his math brain, his love of all things sports-related, his ability to remember the most trivial facts, etc. that make me think that perhaps, there are mama super powers at work here.

Its the same story with my Piper. Wow, talk about a chip off the old block. Not only is she the spitting image of me - my dad says its like a time machine - but she has so many of the same characteristics its scary. She is the polar opposite of her brother in terms of eating. I'm constantly trying to come up with new and exciting options for school lunches, like my mom did for me. (I've stopped short of the huge hunk of granola that my mom sent me, which upon further inspection turned out to be a piece of leftover fried chicken.) We run the gamut from chicken salad to chicken noodle soup in a thermos to turkey, lettuce and mayo on wheat. She definitely keeps me on my toes. It is also apparent that she got her love of reading from me. There was never any question there though, as her father will readily admit that he made it through school having read no more books than he could count on one hand. That, and the fact that the thought of going to the library is truly frightening to him, he's one step from hyperventilating like the crazy girl on the national spelling bee if I ask him to take the kids to the library. Piper, on the other hand has to be prompted to put down her latest book and play outside (did I mention she also got my athletic abilities?) I love to watch her get so engrossed. I always appreciated the escape of a good book as a kid - I still love it as an adult.

The jury is still out on the two littlest Johnsons, though Finley's diva tendencies point more towards me and Carter's love of the Chicago Bulls reeks of Tim. But in the meantime we are getting a kick out discovering little pieces of ourselves in our children. And of course, I get a little chuckle each time I think that perhaps my own mama super powers may allow me to give my own children the pleasure of someday having a child JUST LIKE THEM!