NBCs Parenthood - Everything you want in feel-good TV

“I thought I could do it all...but I can't, not now, anyway.”  This from Julia Braverman-Graham, the working mom on my favorite TV show – Parenthood (NBC, Tuesdays, 10pm/9pmCST). 

What I love the most about this show is how well it handles the REALITY of parenthood. You laugh and you cry during this one hour show. You learn things.  You enjoy.  

Julia, soon-to-be partner of her law firm, has always handled being a working mom seamlessly.  Recently, she and her husband Joel adopted an 11-year-old boy.  (They already have a precocious 5-year-old daughter who is used to being the center of their attention.) So in last night’s episode, I was so happy to see Julia losing her mind. Not in a mean way.  But in a relieved, sort of way.  The noise that the children made, the chaos in the morning. She’s trying to juggle everything.  And she’s the type that knows she can.  She can do it all!  Until she can’t.  She has a slight breakdown during breakfast that frenzied morning and she’s been slipping up at work.  So bad that the partners of the firm call her into a meeting in the middle of her son’s baseball game (Gasp! Her leaving the game shocks her large family who all lives close by and happen to have their schedules free to ALL be at this game – that’s the only thing about the show that is hard to believe.  They all get together so much,  so conveniently.  Who knows, maybe that is real but just not my reality since I don’t live close to my family.)  

 

Anyway, in the meeting they tell her, if you still want to be considered for partner, you’re going to have to give us all of you.  You can see the hurt in her face as she wagers her own identity and goals versus her role as mom.  But she knew, as we all know, you can have it all, just not all at once.  Something has to give.  So she said to them, heartbroken, but knowing she’s made the right decision, “I thought I could do it all...but I can't, not now, anyway.”  

Reality!  So many television shows, even the reality shows, have a hard time trying to get down to the root of what is so real. But Parenthood does it with finesse. I feel happier every  time I watch an episode.  You should tune in!  Relatable brings relief.

It’s All in the Aim - A Potty Training Success Story

I was proud of my son who’d gotten the hang of potty training at 18 months.  By 22 months, he was a pro!  We were even leaving the house in our undies, taking the extra time to stop in the public bathrooms (or the secluded tree at the park) so he could go when he had to.  Now he’s two years old, and one day I couldn’t believe what I was seeing when I turned the corner into the kitchen and saw my little boy standing there, naked from the waist-down, with slightly bent knees, precisely peeing into the Mega Blok toy he held out in front of him.

   I laughed and told him he shouldn’t do that, that we only pee in the potty…but secretly, I was proud.  Until the next day, that is, when I caught him aiming for his beach pail he’d purposely placed on the floor.  This time, I had to act stern and guide him to the potty.  Over the course of the next week, probably no thanks to my initial reaction, I caught him aiming for all sorts of toys with a look of pride on his face.  Funny as it was to me the first couple of times, it was starting to grow old.  I had a serious talk with him, as serious as a talk can be at 24 months, and in just a few days, he was focused on the potty again.  Almost three now, he still occasionally pulls down his pants and smile…waiting for a reaction. 

Has Your Doc Ever Tried To Smooch You?

This is how my doctor appointment went today…

This was my second official visit with this browned-haired Charleston-area doc.   Luckily, I didn’t have to disrobe or even put on a gown.  I thought it was strange that he laid me on the floor, though he did offer a pillow.  He proceeded to inspect my head, neck and arms.  A very kind soul, he kept rubbing my forehead and telling me it’d all be alright.  Honestly, I didn’t know anything was wrong.

“Does your penis hurt?” he asks.

“I don’t have a penis.  I’m a girl.”

“You do.  You have a little penis.”  He says, matter-of-factly.

“No, girls don’t have penises.”

“It’s okay,” he assures.  “You’ll feel better soon.  There’s a machine right here.”  He then covers me with a blanket and pulls it up under my chin.  He reaches across me to pull up the blanket, inadvertently choking me with his elbow several times. 

He instructs, “You need to cooperate.”  I thought I was.  Then I wondered where he learned that word.  Cooperate.

He gently touches my cheek.  “Awww.  You’ll feel better soon.  I’m a doctor.”  I’m holding back my hysterics now, with a few chuckles slipping out.

“Don’t cry, you will be okay.”  He kisses my cheek and then one eyelid, “I love you, mommy.  I’ll be your doctor everytime.”

Why Do Boys Have Tails?

Rylie was two years old when her cousins, Clayton and Callie, came to visit from Colorado.  They’d moved when she was a baby so she hadn’t gotten to spend a lot of time with them, and we were all excited.  We all met up at Grannie Janet’s house for a day full of fun in the sun with their new kiddy pool.

Clayton didn’t have a swimsuit so his mom, Trina, just stripped him down naked and set him in the pool to swim.  Rylie kept studying him and I assumed she was just checking the new cousin out.  He was now over a year old, walking around everywhere and making noises as he tried to talk.

Rylie walked over to Trina and asked boldly, “Trina, why does he have a tail?”

Trina looked at her, confused, and asked what she meant.

Rylie pointed directly at Clayton’s privates and said louder, “Why does he have a tail!?”

Trina burst out laughing and looked at me in delight before answering my daughter.  “Why don’t you go ask your dad?”
*Trina