Things I've Done Right

I was driving down Dolores Street last week, on my usual route back to school to return Max to his rightful owner for the evening, having my usual half-attentive conversation with Django in the rear-view mirror, when something he sign-said struck me. It wasn't what he sign-said, really,or even that he sign-said whatever he did. It was more like seeing a giant tracer -- like an arc of light that stretched all the way back to last summer's sign language class at Kaiser, dipping and swerving since then through the hours of bootleg Signing Time DVDs on constant rotation in my tv -- spelling out for me in bright neon letters: "See, you've been doing something in parenthood really right!"

At that point, I think I laughed aloud at my own train of thought, and put my mind back on the road. But later I got to thinking about how easy it is to get caught up in all I do as a parent that's -- well, let's just say -- not-so right. As a little experiment, I decided to look back at this week's photos, most of which were taken at Margo's super-fun birthday party at Glen Park playground, to see if I could find any other evidence of good parenting amid the flotsam and jetsam of my maternal mind. Pictured here are the results:

Photo 1)
As already mentioned, I figured out that some tv is great tv.
Photo 2)
I let Django work hard, on his own, at physical tasks I know he can accomplish.
Photo 3)
If he decides he'd rather not face a challenge he started in on, I help him bow out.
Photo 4)
I practice not-helping until/unless he asks, (sometimes) even when it scares me.
Photo 5)
I gratefully accept the kindness of strangers -- like the gift of this pulled-out-of-the-post-garage-sale-trash-bin Elmo -- even if it seems a little gross at the time.