Surrogacy

Giving 110%. It's a fruitless chase that most parents willingly participate in and beat themselves up over. We scramble to provide the love, the string cheese, the band-aids, the undivided attention, the diaper changes and the nose wiping to anyone under the age of three in our household. On very few occasions, we get it right. And it's during these rare moments that the stars align, unicorns are no longer just in my head, the heavens shine down and damn we could possibly write a book about this parenting stuff because we are just that good. Peace and harmony abound. But more often than not, the balls are in the air, not just balls but flaming razor blades, and you are expected to juggle. And you scramble. Scramble your ass off as two little girls cry in concert both needing you RIGHT AT THAT MOMENT and you sit there trying to figure out how best to utilize just one set of arms. El and Viv, we're working on growing at least one other set of arms. Promise.
But as our new dance of parenthood evolves, I can't help but think back to Psych 101 (why do I always seem to go there?). I remember learning about Harry Harlow's experiment with the rhesus monkeys. You know, the one where the abandoned monkeys prefer a wire and terry cloth surrogate "mama" monkey versus a plate of food even when faced with starvation? And the whole thing got me thinking...if I can somehow get my hands on enough chicken wire perhaps I can create a pretty life-like replica of myself. Make that two and we might be well on our way of reaching that 110%.
Pictured above is Ella and Viv along with their surrogates. Please forgive the blur in Vivian's shot. Didn't want to interrupt their bonding.