One Cool Mom

It started with the sandwiches.

When Corey was in Pre-K, he came home talking about the amazing sandwiches his friend, Morgan, had.

"They're dinosaur sandwiches, Mom!"

"Impressive!" I thought.  Morgan has a pretty cool mom, so I wasn't too surprised.

"His daddy made it!"  Corey's emphasis on the word 'daddy' clarified just how cool he thought Morgan's dad must be!

Several days went by, and Corey continued to talk about Morgan's awesome dinosaur sandwiches, so one morning I decided to surprise Corey with a (drumroll please) tractor sandwich!  By my own admission, the tractor looked pretty beat-up and misshapen, so I grabbed a magic marker and outlined a simple John Deere 7400 tractor on the sandwich bag.  

The plan worked - Corey was impressed!

Happy to have elevated my status as one-cool-mom in Corey's eyes, I continued to cut his sandwiches into different shapes... for a while anyway.  Over the summer, I must have forgotten and my "coolness" level waned.

Fast forward two years to Kobe entering Pre-K.  To our delight, one of his classmates happens to be Owen, Morgan's little brother!  Kobe was thrilled to spend his every-other-day time with Owen and often came home with little tidbits of this and that about the amazing Owen.

The amazing  Morgan and Owen

Corey & Kobe

And then they had a conversation.  A conversation that has changed Tuesdays-and-Thursdays-at-home-with-Mommy.

They talked about clubhouses.

"Owen has a clubhouse, Mommy!"  Kobe's eyes were huge and I could tell he was very impressed!  

"Really?  That's great!"  It was Kobe's day at home and I was naive to what I was getting myself in to grateful for the idea.  Kobe misses his siblings when they are at school, so I was happy to help him create his own "awesome clubhouse".

I pulled several chairs into the living room, threw a blanket over the top and helped him tape the sign he had made (all by himself!) onto the side.  He turned into a cheetah and crawled into his clubhouse cave where he lapped water out of a bowl.

Kobe with his clubhouse sign

The clubhouse was a hit, and Kobe was entertained for several hours.  Corey came home from school and he, too, seemed duly impressed.

A few days passed by, the clubhouse was taken down, the sign disappeared, the cheetah turned into a little boy and was off to school once more.  I thought the clubhouse dream had been fulfilled and I mentally patted myself on the back for the ingenuity and creativity I had displayed for my young son.  

I was one cool mom!

But alas, I was not as ingenious and creative as I had hoped. By 3:00 that afternoon, Kobe was sitting in the van, excitedly describing Owen's clubhouse.  Apparently, he hadn't realized that clubhouses could be created out of materials other than fleece coverlets.

"Owen's clubhouse is made out of WOOD, Mommy!  WOOD!"

"Oh..."  I really didn't want to build a clubhouse out of wood, so I scrambled quickly to think of a new subject.  "How was school today?"

"Good.  AND they are gonna paint their clubhouse too!"  

Ok, so that didn't work.

Kobe went on, "Mom, can we build a clubhouse with wood?  And paint it?  I want to paint it dark blue... or dark black!"  I know he kept talking after that, but I stopped listening as I mentally pictured my boys covered in dark blue (or dark black) paint.  And I groaned.

"Tell ya what, Buddy," I glanced at Kobe's hopeful face in the rearview mirror of the van, "that sounds like a good project for you to talk to daddy about!"  

Thankfully he agreed and I was off the hook...  for the moment anyway! :)  If it started with a simple sandwich and has already climbed to dark black clubhouses, who knows what these boys will come up with over the years.

I cherish conversations like these with my children.  I enjoy seeing them build friendships of their own and watching them dream big dreams while using their imaginations!

No, I'm not threatened by the "coolness" of other mommies or daddies - I am secure enough to know that I hold my children's love and affection. :)  But I do love the fact that I can learn by watching others.  Through the avenue of friendships we can discover new adventures, ideas and traditions for our families to enjoy.  Hopefully soon, that will include a clubhouse for the Carpenter kids!

And I might even let them do the painting!  (Just don't hold me to it!)

Morgan and Owen are being raised by some pretty cool people!  You can read their story here.