Maternal instinct and motherhood
Between work and home, some days I feel like a mom already.... and now that I am home, my poor cat is going to be in for such a shock! With me being home, she is at least residing in the same room, lying at my side or climbing up several times a day to the spot on my belly where I can now sit my whole plate of dinner down with no problem (the top very flat part of my protruding belly) . This is the same cat that will normally give the stiff arm (or as we call it, the stiff paw) if we pick her up on our own accountance. She will now either curl up in a ball or lay out now for up to an hour of what turns into very much like "holding a baby". So how did I get to this day already being so much like a mom? (OK the cat part I know. So we spoil our cat. Not really, we just treat her with a lot of love, play with her, give her treats and water at the sink. But not if we aren't in the mood. I do blame it on the fact that I've been known to be somewhat of a kitty charmer or kitty whisperer, taming cats that I've been told aren't very nice). Hubby thinks that Nutmeg is just responding to my maternal instinct and just wants to be near me. So where did this maternal instinct, loving little ones and wanting to work with kids come from?Surprisingly, my life long dream wasn't always to have kids immediately or pursue a career working with them. I fled babysitting like the plague when I was younger. It was something my sister did (and now look who's having kids first? ha, ha) and when I got recruited to fill in once for her in the 7th grade, I was so relieved that the baby did not wake up the entire time I was there. I had no clue what to do with the thing if it did...That was my first and last time dealing with kids up close until my sophomore year in college when my brother had my niece. I remember the first time I came home to see them and being amazed that he had this little being wrapped up in the blanket. And gradually I grew in my role of being an aunt and getting to know her and love taking care of her on the many occasions that I was able to get away from school.
I would come down on weekends on occasion and recall taking her grocery shopping, to church, to see Santa, feeding her dinner on my own for the first time (who knew the peas and carrots would come right out in her diaper as, well, peas and carrots). I begged my brother to wait to take her trick-or-treating so I could get down in time to join them and recall fondly her dinosaur outfit at age 4 asking me politely if I would please move the large pointy tail out of the way because she couldn't sit on it in the car (SO CUTE!) The dinosaur tail later saved her as she tipped backwards going up someones stairs. I encountered some of the terrible two tantrums, a weekend where she got the stomach flu and dinner came back up, as well as the fun moments like when she was learning to talk. She put my mom's sunglasses on her small head and I taught her to say "Cool Dude" with them on. I painted her finger nails and re-pierced her ears when she asked me to put earrings in (How was I supposed to know that my brother had taken them out and was planning to put them in when she was older-BAD AUNT!)
In short, she won my heart over in a very big way and I realized that I loved being around kids. So when I was in PT school, I knew I had to investigate this specialty of working in pediatrics. Today I couldn't imagine going to work without seeing cute little faces and being able to make a difference in their lives. I've gotten the chance to work with all ages from the little tiny infant to the older teenager that would rather be hanging out with friends and I've definitely gotten a very good glimpse and much experience of what is to come in being a parent. I'm sure all that I have learned will come in handy and I'm looking forward to the many special moments I get to share with my own kids.
posted by Andrea @ 10:20 PM
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