Selective mommy memory

I am pretty positive that I have selective mommy memory. There are certain aspects of Ella's babyhood that I seemed to have conveniently forgotten- until Marian was in the midst of doing the same thing. Or I lied to myself and told myself it wasn't so bad.

Like how I somehow forgot the awful period of time when Ella was a newborn and refused to sleep or stop screaming unless she was being held and we used to have to take turns rocking her. I'd be so tired that I would have to stand up while holding her and I would wake Jim up at the point where I was literally falling asleep on my feet. We'd do that in 15 minute shifts all.night.long.

Yet until we had a newborn again I had blotted that from my mind. All I remembered was how wonderfully Ella slept until she hit about 5 months old.

Anyway, this selective mommy memory came to mind again when Marian started crawling and cruising around. Here's how I remember Ella's early mobile days:

Ahh, so proud of herself! 

Taking my clothes out of the drawers! Isn't that adorable! 

Look at that sweet little thing go! 

Oooh! She can stand! Isn't that TOTALLY AWESOME??!!!

Here are the things I erased from my mind about the whole mobile baby process: 

-They put tons of random shit in their mouths. Like little pieces of fuzz and hair and dog toys and the cheerios your toddler left on the floor. 

-They somehow manage to find every single little thing they aren't supposed to play with. My kids seem to love the dogs toys. Maybe the fact that they have been pre-slobbered makes them more attractive. 

-Cleaning your floors on a daily basis becomes an absolute necessity. Because otherwise you end up completely disgusted at how much dirt and dog hair clings to their magnetic little hands. And dirty floors gives them more stuff to stick in their mouths. 

-Babyproofing is like throwing down the gauntlet. "Oh, so you think I can't climb over the baby gate? Just watch me."

-They have this sixth sense for when your back is turned. Think you'll have time for that 30 second bathroom trip? Think again. 

Go ahead and try to pee. I'll just be chewing on some wiring. 

The worst part is I know once Marian is a bit older all the not-so-fun aspects will be a distant memory.