Welcome To The Mommy Club!
February 7, 2007
I discovered this week that I’ve been accepted into a new club - and I didn’t even realize that it existed! Have you ever noticed that sometimes if you see someone driving the same kind of car you’re driving, you’ll wave, because there is a sort of camaraderie? This seems to be especially true with Jeep drivers. Well, apparently with the Mommy Club it goes one step further. Instead of just a wave or a smile, it turns into an actual conversation.
Last night Xander and I went to WalMart to get the oil changed in our car. (We only use WalMart because you don’t need an appointment and they’re open until 7pm - it works so much better with our schedule). So, the lady who checked me in is the same lady who has checked me in every 3,000 miles for the past 3 years. We have never talked more than me giving her my contact information, and she asking me what I would like done with my car. Yesterday however, I had Xander with me.
The Mommy Club conversation always starts with “How old is he/she?” Now I’m answering, “4 months”, and then they tell me how old their child/children are. It’s like seeing someone who has the same secret decoder ring that you have. Instead of the standard conversation that I usually have with the Car Service lady at WalMart, I found out that she has a 2 year-old son, and that he’s been really whiny lately, so they’ve cut Calliou out of the approve tv program list, and that he’s really into trains lately, and that she bought him a Lite Brite for Valentine’s Day, and is planning on making a heart on it and setting it up as a surprise for him.
While I was waiting for the car, I sat with Xander in the little waiting room, and met yet another Mommy Club member. Instead of trying to entertain Xander for 30 minutes, I entertained Xander and found out all about this woman’s 5 and 7 year old sons, what she liked best about the infant years, and what is nice about the current ages she’s got. As I walked out of WalMart I was amazed at how friendly people can be, as long as you belong in the club.
Prior to Xander, I wouldn’t have had any sort of conversation with either woman, and these are just two examples - this happens almost every time Xander and I go out in public together. It’s neat, and it’s a fascinating bond - the fact that two strangers who both have children can provoke a lengthy and often very personal conversation is surprising to me. Since I live in New England, I’m pretty accustomed to minding my own business - not that people are unfriendly, they’re just quiet and cautious. Apparently once you belong to the Mommy Club, that caution is thrown out the window and you’re allowed to be as friendly as you want - who knew! The requirements for getting into the Mommy Club are pretty basic, but it’s one heck of an initiation process!!
Xander was diagnosed with his first ear infection last week. He hasn’t been overly fussy, and he hasn’t discovered his ears yet to tug on, so it was pretty tough for us to figure out that anything was wrong in the first place. Xander’s eyes were pretty watery and his “eye boogies” were more crusty than usual last week, and eventually I brought him to see his doctor, concerned that maybe he had pink eye. Thankfully, it was not pink eye, but he does have red and pussy ears - poor little guy 
So we picked up some bubblegum flavored Amoxicillin and started pouring that into his mouth twice a day.