Today, the Peanut (as I will call my daughter on the blog) and I opened up her new Playdoh Fun Factory...fun! Well, fun until she immediately began smashing the yellow and blue together to make a birthday cake. Fun Shauna was instantly challenged to a dual by Stick-in-the-Mud Shauna: "Don't let her mix the colors! If she makes green, what container could it possibly go into?!? We only have blue and yellow lids! Stop her!" Fun Shauna tried to rally by asking some non-confrontational, fact-based questions: "Is this your Playdoh? No. Is the Peanut having fun? Yes. Do you Have a paper bag in case you hyperventilate? Great." But it was too late. The Type A forces are incredibly strong during "free art" times. Stick-in-the-Mud Shauna waited until the Peanut was busy getting a plate for her cake and quickly hid the remaining yellow dough under the table. Now at least SOME of the Playdoh would be saved from destruction!
I used to be proud of my Type-A status. I was organized, efficient, and nearly always on time as a student and teacher. But as a preschool teacher, the more I learned about early childhood education, the more I realized that kids really thrive when there is a balance of both types in their lives. So, I began really working on this Type-B thing, or whatever you people call yourselves. I messed up my desk and didn't clean it right away, I was 2 1/2 minutes late to work once, and I began forcing myself to look the other way when my students mixed everything in their path into a dull, greenish-brown color (pause to breathe into paper bag). I began telling everyone my new mantra: "It's the process, not the product!" I was Fun Shauna, yeah baby, yeah!!! Fast forward a few years to the birth of my sweet daughter, and I can tell you right now, lack of sleep, fear of the unknown, and a baby who wouldn't breastfeed turned me right back into list-making, crumb-spotting, schedule-obsessed, Type-A Shauna. Crap. I was back at square one. During those first few months I was generally allowed to wallow in my rigidity, but I definitely got a talking-to from my mom about "letting the dishes go!" that gave me nightmares of my tidy little house turning into an episode of Rosanne.
Over the past two years, I have regained a good deal of that balance I worked so hard for as a teacher, but it is still an everyday battle to be naturally Type-A and a mom at the same time. I am not perfect, but I am not supposed to be, and actually, some of my very best moments with the Peanut have been when I have been the most "imperfect". The other day, when making apple crumble together (cooking with children, ultimate test of a Type-A soul!), I let the Peanut stir the "crumble". A mixture of brown sugar, oats, and butter soon covered the counter top. It was a sticky mess. So, I taught her how to lick her finger and stick it to the crumble. And then we cleaned it up...one fingerful at a time.
