I love my children....I mean which mother doesn't. There is something so strong in the maternal instinct which makes us want to nurture and protect our children from the rest of the world. (In all fairness, I am sure the same applies to Dads too but I am a Mom and so can't speak for Dads). There is a statement sometimes made about how a Mother can find incredible strength to lift a car if her child is trapped under it....I don't think that is humanly possible but it does give an idea of the deep bond that mothers have with their children. Before I had kids, I would sleep through the night without hearing a single sound....would not hear the alarm clock ring even if it was placed right next to my ears. So my biggest fear when I was pregnant with my son was....my child is going to cry through the night and stay hungry and I am going to sleep right through it. But to my surprise, not only did I wake up every 2 hours like clockwork in the first few months, I almost always woke up just a second before my son would start to cry. By the time my daughter was born....I was an experienced Mom who had complete faith in her maternal instincts. Even today, if one of my kids is sick, I rarely sleep through the night....waking up constantly to check on them.
But I have to admit, I have my 'OFF' days....days where within an hour of waking up, my children have called 'Mumma' at least a hundred times if not more. Mumma, can I....Mumma, what is....Mumma, how to....Mummy, why....Mumma, he is....Mumma, she is....Mumma, this....Mumma, that.....and really at the end of it all Mumma wants is not to hear the word 'Mumma' anymore! There have been times when I have told my son....Can you please not say 'Mumma' for just the next 5 minutes or so?....And he says, 'Sure Mumma'......and within the next 2 minutes or so asks...But why Mumma or are the 5 minutes up Mumma......I sometimes wonder if my Mom felt the same way when I was a child. If she did, I was of course blissfully ignorant of that while I expected her to come running everytime I yelled 'Amma'.
Now I have to be honest and admit that all my annoyance is superficial.....the reactions of a sometimes really tired body and mind....deep inside I love hearing 'Mumma' and I love the fact that my kids need me. Last week, my son was down with the flu. He woke up late one morning, half heartedly had some breakfast and went right back to sleep. It was almost 3 in the afternoon when he woke up again and as he walked down the stairs he called out 'Hi Mumma'.....the sweetest words I had heard all day! Similarly, when my daughter was a bit younger, she used to take naps in the morning. Her vocabulary at that time was limited but the two words she used a lot were 'Mumma' and 'No'....a lethal combination because she would call out to Mumma incessantly throughout the day and if Mumma asked her to do something she would emphatically say 'No'...Ah! The joys of motherhood. In those days, she almost always woke up from her morning naps crying (I still haven't figured out why she used to cry) and yelling 'Mumma' and I would drop everything I was doing as I sprinted up the stairs to go pick her up.
Time is flying by so quickly....before I know it my children will be all grown up....would have flown the nest....and will not be living with us anymore. At that time, perhaps the only way I will hear them calling me 'Mumma' would be at a end of a phone line. I am quite sure when I hear them calling me 'Mumma' then....I will have a lump in my throat....I will have a smile on my face....I will have infinite joy in my heart and I will for sure be misty-eyed.
Signing off to go hug and kiss my children and this quote by Pearl Buck
'Some mothers are kissing mothers and some are scolding mothers, but it is love just the same, and most mothers kiss and scold together'.
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