I'm not a perfect mother.Confession #1: I let Annika eat "bad" food. Yep, that's a french fry you see dangling from her perfect pink lips. And you know what...it's not her first trip to the french fry rodeo. She eats fried chicken with more ranch dressing than at a salad bar and sometimes simply uses the chicken as a ranch transfer system where she just licks, licks, licks. I tell myself...maybe some protein is finding its way to her by way of chicken crumbs?
Confession #2: She watches TV. A lot of it. She can quote some (ok, a lot of) SpongeBob episodes. She can sing most words to Diego's opening song, even the Spanish ones. She knows that Momma's favorite TV show is Scrubs and that JD can be a moron. She expects the TV to be on. I'm so very proud. (that's sarcasm)
Confession #3: I give in. She wants something...a lot of the times she'll get it. I will proudly proclaim that I'm probably the one person who pushes back the most in her life (a-hem, Chris), but come on...she says please and tells me I'm beautiful...what is a Momma to do? Well, I'll tell you what a Momma is to do - Baby gets to stay up for another two episodes of SpongeBob!
Confession #4: I buy her a lot of crap. For a short time, there was even an unofficial rule that she could get one thing every time we went to a store. Every time. Not that she was asking for designer jeans, but well, expectations were set. We've (sorta) broken her of that habit, but she gets a lot of stuff. Cute rockstar sunglasses at Gap? Check. The 15th bouncy ball from the drugstore ball bin? Check. A Halloween sippy cup with a witch on it that scares her? Oh yeah - check. 
Confession #5: I like to go out with my husband. Without the baby.
Confession #6: I still call her Baby. (sub-confession: I'm ok with that one.)
I write these confessions as a cathartic measure. But maybe the dirtiest confession is that I'm ok with these mistakes (most of the time...someday she's getting brussel sprouts with dinner without ranch!) Annika is so amazing and knows we love her, and that I think is the most amazing achievement in parenting - making sure that kid knows she's loved. But for all you mommies out there who maybe have a few confessions of your own...perhaps you can look at this list and feel a little better about yourself.
Or maybe you do everything right. If so, please write a book and provide detailed instructions. Thanks.
