Rachel's Thoughts on Motherhood

Rachel, in what is (according to her) not the most ideal fighting outfit.

Rachel has been thinking a lot lately about becoming a mother. Recently she told me that if she were MY mom, she would let me have a pink army shirt AND a red fighter-shirt and a pinkish-reddish sword and we would eat pinkish-reddish cake and banana splits. (Rachel loves both red and pink, so to her "pinkish-reddish" is the ultimate color. And she absolutely loves banana splits, which is why she manages to work them into almost any conversation.)

Anyway, you can tell she's a girl with two older brothers if a pink and red fighing outfit complete with sword seems like the best gift a mother could give.

Rachel's ideas on mothering do not stop there - the other day she and Oliver were out in the kitchen and I heard them have this conversation:

Rachel (in a very condescending voice): When I grow up to be a mom, I will be in charge of my kids. (I can tell she just can not wait for this time of power - her poor children)

Oliver: Oh, yeah? Well, you'll have to do everything hard when you're a mom.

Rachel: What will I do that's hard?

Oliver: You'll have to clean your house and stuff.

Rachel: Well, this is what I'll do when I'm a mom:

• Get my little kids dinner, lunch, and snack. (I guess they're not getting breakfast)
• Cook some stuff in the oven.
• Get my kids some applesauce.
• When I'm done I'll put the food back in the pantry and fridge.
• Play catch with my kids with a soccer ball.

It was interesting to see how she views my life - it looks like it's mostly spent in the kitchen. At least I get out to the backyard once in a while to throw that old soccer ball around. I think I know where that part is coming from - the last few Saturdays Daniel, Tristan, and I have played catch out in the backyard (with a football, not soccer ball, I should clarify).

It's actually been really fun. Daniel is the quarterback, and he has me and Tristan run different receiver routes. On Saturday we were trying to see who could catch the most out of 10 passes for four different routes. I am embarrassed to admit that Tristan beat me on the first three contests. I only won when we were running out patterns, and even that one was close - we were tied at the end of 10 passes each, so we had to go until sudden death, and I managed to beat him. It's good practice for both of us and we have a lot of fun. Tristan is so competitive, though - he does not like to lose. Luckily I do not have that problem.

Rachel, Oliver, and Lizzy usually hang out in the backyard while we're playing, and I guess Rachel has been observing and decided that playing catch counts as a motherly duty now.