i was going to title this post 'it sucked and then i cried' but apparently there's a book out there with that title, so now i'm stumped

About a month ago, my sons and I spent an afternoon at a nearby park, joining a swarm of other children and mothers also out soaking in every drop of sunshine. For nearly two hours, I chased the boys around the playground, and when they went off to play basketball, I staked claim to a shady spot to sit and read. Before long, I found myself counting the number of women pushing baby strollers containing the tiniest of infants while their toddlers played nearby.

I swear my body forcibly released two viable eggs for each baby I counted, and as each ova made its fantastic voyage, each paused just long enough to tap on my uterus and whisper "Tick, tock, mama. Tick tock." Hello, baby lust, my old friend. The only thing preventing this sea of new mothers who surrounded me from scooping up their sweet-scented bundles of bliss and running away from me like a Stephen King horror story was my sunglasses hiding my teary, baby-crazed eyes, which I had to wipe dry in order to spot my sons swimming in the middle of a sea of toddlers. At 7 and 11 years old, they towered over the others like two gangly Gullivers among the Lilliputs! These boys are my babies, and though I'm now contractually prohibited from calling them that, they are forever such. I simply can't imagine not being their mother.

Recently, Tina from Send Chocolate asked me to write a post sharing my five favorite things about being a mother. It's part of an online dialogue launched in by Catherine from Her Bad Mother for moms from around the globe to share their joy. I'm a little late to getting to this, but I still wanted to chime in. Pretend we're just a bunch of moms who brought our kids to the park on a fantastic spring day. If it makes you uncomfortable to see me weeping and perhaps suspiciously asking to hold your infant, feel free to smile at the strange girl in me, but definitely share your thoughts about your favorite thing about being a mom, too (and if you're a dad, I'm sure you're welcome here, too). Here are mine:

• Every morning, as we walk to the corner for him to catch the school bus, my youngest son reaches up and grabs my hand. He's growing out of his cuddling stage, so the few minutes of hand holding I get five days a week is the best way I can imagine starting my day. It's followed closely by our established routine of humming the theme to Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and the Imperial March from Star Wars on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I've always said this is a kid who needs a soundtrack, and he has chosen wisely.
• My kids are crazy athletic. My theory is when Tool Man and I worked our magic and the chromosomes split, some kind of crazy super hero action must have taken place inside my uterus where all the bench-warming, looking for clover in the outfield attributes we both brought to the child making game exploded and reformed into these bionic beings we spawned. Half the time, I don't know what they're doing on the court or the field, but they are skilled in ways I'll never be able to duplicate. If this is the technology, we built it, and for that, I look forward to spending a lot of Fridays and Saturdays in school gyms. Yeah team!
• The conversation is never dull. Here's a sampling of what I've been party to lately. First up, my oldest son - "Mom, what's for supper?" "Grilled chicken, rice, and some green beans." "So, when you say 'chicken,' what exactly do you mean by that?" "What?! What do you mean 'what do I mean by that?'" Later, over his pauper's rations of grilled chicken, rice and some green beans ("I'm still not sure where you're going with this chicken, Mom"), he regaled me with a scientific discourse on dandruff before launching a lengthy dialogue about that "one thing that happened a few days ago or last year, I think...you know, that thing!" Tonight, my youngest son plopped down beside me and asked, "Do Europes talk like Americans?" I was able to answer that one, but even when I can't, it's fun pretending.
• Speaking of my youngest son, he now only answers to his nickname - Rhino. He's chosen this nickname because rhinoceros are his favorite animal. Additionally, he's given the rest of us animal nicknames. His brother is Panda and Tool Man is Elephant (Rhino says it's because Elephant is the leader and that's why he's an elephant, but I told him to tell Elephant it may be because he ate too much grilled chicken, rice and some green beans the other day - and other, far tastier treats while he's traveling - and he's getting big like an elephant, but Elephant threatened to stampede). Finally, I'm now addressed as Woody, as in woodpecker. As in what?!
• My boys dig music (except for Jonas Brothers, and to that, I say boo!), and my oldest often comes to me with a list of songs he'd like added to his mp3 player. Sadly, his latest selections include the new Black Eyed Peas' song, Boom Boom Pow (I blame this on Elephant, who brought My Humps into this house and dear heaven how my boys love that song). When they hear Give You Hell on the radio, my youngest edits the track by singing "BEEP!" loudly and passionately in place of 'hell,' and I swear to you, it never gets old. But the best thing about this favorite thing? I just learned my oldest thought Yes' Owner Of A Lonely Heart was sung as loner with a sexy heart, and that cracked me up, but then I was all, "Wait! You help bleep out the 'hells' in that hell song! Do you know what sexy means?" and he just smirks and rolls his eyes at me. Yep. So not my babies anymore.

I've seen this type of post on several blogs, and it's been fun reading posts from around the globe. For my part, I'm going to tag Kat, who writes at 3 Bedroom Bungalow. Kat's a Midwest girl currently living in England, and while that's hella cool in and of itself, she's also got two adorable young daughters who I'd bet have given her some favorite things to share if she wishes. I also hope you'll share some of yours in the comments.

Just beware my uterus...