Uncommon

Just about the time you think you have this parenting thing figured out your daughter goes and urinates in a shoebox.

Well, not a shoebox, exactly. It’s a box purse with hard sides like a shoe box and I’m incredibly grateful to report it is water-tight for short periods of time. Like the length of time it takes a two-year-old to walk from the living room to the kitchen and say, “I go potty!”

Add that length of time to the minutes needed to scrape my jaw off the floor and go on a “listening tour” of the house, locate the box filled with yellow liquid, and dispose of both bodily fluids and box and you have the final sum total of minutes the box remained leak-proof.

Now you know the highlight of my day.

I find it interesting this took place on the day I was considering one of Ann Voskamp’s 10 Helps for Really Busy Moms: “Motherhood is a hallowed place because children aren’t commonplace.”

When I started thinking about this truism, I had very different thoughts. I paused to reflect on the intrigue possessed by each of my children, how they can look so similar and yet possess unique personalities, strengths and weaknesses. I took the time to pat myself on the back because I am dedicating myself to a hard calling – motherhood! – and not giving up even though it is physically taxing and emotionally challenging every day.

Then my child used a box purse as a toilet and all the sweet, insightful thoughts flew straight out the window and I started focusing on this idea: children aren’t commonplace.

“Commonplace” is an adjective meaning, “Having no remarkable features, characteristics, or traits; ordinary.”

Yes, commonplace does NOT describe children. Or a life with children.

I guess that’s a good thing. I didn’t want an ordinary life anyway.

What’s the most surprising thing you’ve seen a child do?