Revelations while playing hookey.

I didn't go to work today, and the only thing that was on the to-do list was go to target, so I figured Owen and I would take a little field trip. And then I remembered that I had been hearing really good things about a new indoor playground that had opened in Watertown. A quick google revealed the indoor playground to be 5 minutes away from the target, so the fates were aligned. Early this morning, we packed up a bag and headed to The Inside Playground (100 Parker St., Watertown: http://www.insideplayground.com/). What a fabulous, fabulous idea. It was a huge indoor space, maybe the size of an indoor rec complex that can hold two hockey rinks or indoor soccer arenas filled with every toy you can imagine. Ride on toys, push toys, trucks, planes, legos, dress up clothes, play kitchens, a ball pit, a giant sesame street bouncy house (side note: One thing I am adamant about is that Owen not watch television. And no sooner than do we walk in the door he starts pointing at the bounce house and yelling, "ELMO!" Seriously? I want to know: how does he know Elmo?)plus a huge, 20 foot inflatable train. If you're two, this place is pretty much the best thing that ever happened to you. And I think it was perfectly priced, at $10. You can stay as long as you want - we stayed from about 9-12. It wasn't so much that it was prohibitive to go there but not so little that it was a zoo. Owen had a fabulous time, and I was thanking my lucky stars that I found it before the winter came and we face long, dreary days stuck inside. Anyway, at noon I decided I'd better get a move on if I wanted to feed Owen and run errands at Target before he started having a must-nap meltdown, so we left. It just so happens that there's a Friendly's in the parking lot of Target, and I thought - hey, why not. We're playing hookey from work and school, might as well make an event out of it. And so I set foot in a Friendly's for the first time since high school. I didn't have high expectations of the food, but was pleasantly surprised - the kids menu actually had pretty good choices. Yes, there was a selection of fried and cheesed items, but you could swap out the fries for broccoli, steamed veggies, mandarin oranges, white rice, applesauce, baked potato, etc, OR you could combine a bunch of healthy sides for lunch, which is what we did. (Owen won't eat hamburgers or hotdogs anyway, but can put the hurt on mandarin oranges). In that case, I felt much better about him eating the clown sundae (you know I couldn't take him to friendly's and not get this) that came free with the kid's meal. Add a salad for me, and it was overall a pretty good experience for $13.50. Go Friendly's. Who knew? We ran our quick errand at Target and hit the car just about 1:30, late enough that Owen's eyes closed the minute he hit the carseat. Perfect day out: Major success.

Our great day made me, oddly, appreciate being a working mom. You might think that I would be thinking, "Oh, I wish I didn't have to work! Wouldn't life be awesome if I was home all the time?" But instead, it inspired the opposite feeling. I had a great time at the indoor playground - really, I spent three hours chasing Owen on various ride on toys, building towers, and jumping in the bounce house, and it was a certified blast. But I can't sustain that level of interest in toddler pursuits day in and day out. There are people out there that can - and I am grateful that I can pay them to do so while I apply the talents I do have to another productive endeavor. I don't have the perfect job right now, but I certainly don't mind working. And I don't feel like I work too much. What I do feel is that I wish there were just a couple more hours in each day, so that I could spend just a little bit more time with Owen than I get to. But not a LOT more time, just a little more time. An hour or two. That would be nice. Short of that, I wish I could outsource more of the stuff I hate: cleaning, shopping, organizing, cooking. And if I could somehow do both at the same time? Well that would be perfect.

I know there are people out there who still think that being a good mom means being a full time mom (sadly, some of them are so rude as to actually make their opinions known in the company of working moms. Way to be an ass.) But I think that ultimately, staying home because you think that's what a good mom should do when you're not cut out to do it won't make you a good mom. I think it would make me a resentful, bored, and probably depressed mom. In fact, if I could make improvements to the situation I have now (which is truthfully, pretty good) I would get a MORE challenging (or at least interesting) job, work about 8 fewer hours per week, and pay someone to do the stuff "good" moms do - clean bathrooms and bake pies and make dinner and make sure the baby has had a bath in the past couple days. I know plenty of people who are staying at home because they like doing those things. For a long time, I think I thought that even if you didn't like those things, staying home and doing them ANYWAY was what you should do if you could. But I've been thinking alot about it lately, and today I realized that that's not the case at all. If staying home suits you, then great. But if it doesn't, you're still being a good parent. The trick, I think, is to find ways to maximize the quality time you do have while not feeling guilty about the mundane time you don't have.

Anyway, enough rambling. the point is, we had an awesome day, which has capped off a pretty awesome week for Owen. More on that later, when I get some pictures uploaded.