Adventures in Motherhood

By Phala Rasmussen

Many people of my generation surely remember the movie “Adventures in Babysitting” starring Elisabeth Shue. While the babysitter in this movie found herself in the throws of some very strange adventures, I would suggest that there are very few adventures a babysitter could have which might prepare her for motherhood. (After all, as every mother knows, nobody can truly “prepare” for motherhood.) And after some research, I found that the word “adventure” was by far the most appropriate term to describe the daily ins and outs of raising children.

One of the definitions I found for the term “adventure” is “an undertaking or enterprise of a hazardous nature.” Anyone who has been around a newborn baby for any amount of time can easily see how this is an applicable description. For those who haven’t been around a newborn, let’s just say there are many things about the sweet little blessings that qualify as “hazardous.”

Of course, toddlers can definitely be “hazardous” as well. And this revelation brings us to the recent “adventure” my husband and I had with our two year old, Harper.

I often entertain my friends with stories of what my little girl does in her room when she is supposed to be napping. The scenes I walk into after naptime are sometimes humorous, and always messy. On this particular day, however, my husband got to be “first on the scene.” I was downstairs when I heard something like this-

Husband (after walking into Harper’s room): “Harper! What did you do?!”

(Silent pause, followed by a little toddler giggle)

Husband: PHALA! I need your help up here! And….bring a bunch of paper towels!

Me: Uh-oh. That’s never good.

What I saw when I walked into our daughter’s room was, well, actually quite impressive. Apparently, she had found the tub of Vaseline in the drawer of her changing table and finger painted with it. Vaseline was smeared all over the walls, all over her room. Her “canvases” were at least two feet by four feet, and she had several scattered throughout the room. You could actually see little Vaseline handprints where she tried to wipe it off her hands, onto the walls. The hardest part of this situation was trying to keep a straight face while reprimanding her for making a mess, when all we really wanted to do was roll on the floor with laughter. As for my daughter, well, she was extremely proud of her “art” and didn’t really understand what the big deal was about.

It’s little episodes like this that tend to define motherhood, at least for me. It’s unpredictable, a lesson in patience, messy and… hilarious.

Oh, and another definition I found for “adventure” is this: “an unusual or exciting experience.” Well, if Vaseline on your walls isn’t unusual or exciting, then I don’t know what is.