Memoirs of A Modern Mom: Four Sounds

NPR was doing this segment called “What 31 sounds like”. I only caught one of the snip its, but basically they asked a bunch of 31 year olds to pick 4 sounds that best encapsulate their lives at the age of 31. I don’t remember what his sounds were, but I am sure they were poetic and lovely. Here are mine:

1. Yelling. All kinds of yelling. Happy yelling, sad yelling, frustrated mom yelling, tattling on your brother yelling, “watch me mom” yelling, don’t run into the street yelling, overtired screaming and crying yelling, and the occasional public meltdown yelling (the kids, not me, thankfully)

2. Dora the Explorer. The kids both freaking love that spunky little Latina! Honestly, as long as it isn’t the little douchebag Caillou, I don’t care.

3. The Big Bang Theory opening song. Jeff makes me sing it every time we watch the show. In fact, if I don’t sing the song he rewinds the show and makes a pouty face until I do sing it. It’s a thing we do. We have “our shows” that we like to watch together every week. It’s the one night that we get to just relax and cuddle on the couch laughing at our favorite programs. Yes, we call them programs. It makes us feel classy and old-timey, like a 50’s tv show couple.

4. Buzzing. I have a love/hate relationship to the buzzing. It means there is an email/text on our phones. On Jeff’s phone, it’s damn near constant. All. The. Freaking. Time. Holy crap. Work emails, push notifications, twitter alerts, mass family texts during Bears games…all the time. I don’t have nearly the same amount of responsibility, so I get far fewer buzzes. Honestly, I would love to institute Cell phone free times or something. I think that technology is the worst time sucker and distractor from the joys of real life ever. (I say as I write this on a lap top while my Facebook page is open in another screen. Hey, its nap time, don’t judge.)

Other potential sounds:

5. Ice crunching. I am addicted to Sonic ice. Don’t tell my dentist.

6. Laughing. It’s kind of obligatory, but we do laugh a lot, thankfully.

7. The dryer. There is always something banging around in there. A penny, a giant acorn, a crayon, chapstick, a lighter…

8. Door slamming. These kids think it’s funny to slam doors while running from room to room or outside to the backyard. But, you know what they say, it’s all fun and games until someone loses a pinky in the doorjamb.

9. Singing. Maybe this should have been one of my top 4. Ella used to sing constantly. No joke, all the damn time. Lately, not so much. Her teacher said that kids focus on one task at a time and then move on. She is into writing and letters now and so her focus is far less performance based lately, thankfully. I needed a break from the musical I was living in.

10. Fans. A low level hum. When I was growing up we always had a fan in our room for white noise. Now I can’t sleep without it and neither can my kiddos. Thus, we all have desk fans in our room. The overhead fans, while good for circulation, don’t make the same hmmmm sound, so we have the cheap-o desk fans as well. I also have an extra for guests. You are welcome.

11. Typing. Sometimes I write. When I do, it sounds like “tap tap tappity tap tap tappity”. Sadly, most of the time I still look at the keys, although, I think I am fairly certain I don’t need to, its just habit, and shoddy typing skills.

12. Crunching. I think my kids are carbo loading for a marathon. They can demolish a bag of goldfish all before lunch.

13. DMB. I don’t always listen to music around the house, but when I do, its Dave Matthews Band.