My Buddy and Me
One thing I didn’t expect about becoming a mom was that my baby would become my friend.
Obviously we don’t share secrets or paint each other’s nails or anything like that, but I’ve realized as I go through all of my day-to-day activities that Fern is my little buddy through it all. We’ve spent every single day together for the past year and that’s definitely a bonding experience for anyone.
In the early days it was a huge hassle and completely overwhelming to take her anywhere, but as she gets older, I have so much fun taking her places. Any outing (while a bit more work) is so much more fun with her in tow. I love how she charms the checkers at the grocery store and the passersby on the street. I love that she is a little conversation starter and that everyone wants to stop and chat with us. I probably would’ve found this annoying before I was a work-from-home-mom, but now I appreciate the adult interaction, even if it is just random strangers at a store.
I know as Fern gets older we’ll probably bicker and have our differences, but I so hope that as she grows, she will consider me a friend as well as her mom. I don’t intend to try to be her friend in that I’ll let her do whatever she wants to try to make her like me, but I hope that even as she has other friends, she will still trust me and come to me with her hopes and fears and know that I will handle them with love and care. I will always be her mommy, first and foremost, but I look forward to also calling her a friend.
Lauren Hartmann is the founder of The Little Things We Do, a blog about life and adventures in Portland Oregon. Follow her on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram or catch up on all of her posts here on Babble.
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I feel the same. My daughter is now 11mo and my best little pal. It’s so much fun doing stuff with her even though, as you said, it’s a bit more work.