the practice of being weird and silly

What sort things do you attempt to practice in your everyday parenting?  
Stuff that help you love the role.  
Stuff that makes the hard job of raising little people a little more "doable".
My friend Sarah has published a great series - the practices of mothering.
I highly recommend you check it out!
And...  she is inviting others to share their own practices in a blog carnival, February 6th.


Being weird & silly is really important to me.

It is just not cool to pretend you are not weird.

Especially in front of your kids.

Don't try to be all serious about yourself all the time & 
make them think you aren't weird.

Right?  We're all a little weird.

And it can really help to lighten up your days.

I generally think Scott is better at this than me.

I don't know why, though.  I am the weirder one.

I guess I also seem to be the one who gets her panties in a wad easier.

(Scott does not wear panties though.  Although, Peyton struggles with that.

Poor boy, surrounded by sisters.  He will often ask for help with his panties.  

But again, he does not wear panties.  He has actual boy underwear.  Anyway.)

One of my favorite things about my dad is that he is really silly, in the privacy of his home.

I always loved the really weird things he would do everyday.

He was a roofer all my childhood.  Of course he wore boots to work.

When he would get home in the late afternoon & take off his boots, 

he would also take off his socks & then stick them under his nose & sniff them.

(Is that okay that I am telling that to everyone, Dad?  

I won't tell them what you did at the dinner table every night.)

He also made up songs about random things. 

With pretty bad melody lines.

It was great.

I wanted my kids to have a dad who sang strange songs, too.

I eventually fell in love with Scott & 
neglected to find out if he met the mark on that one.

But, guess what?  He did!  I didn't even know it before I married him.

But, the silly & weird started seeping out in the safety of love & home.

And I was glad.

Weird songs, about super random things is something we do.


We try to throw in some crazy dances some times.

Goofy Dress ups.

And we have some silly bedtime rituals, too.

Our kids will drop to the ground, when it is time to go to bed, in order to play 

"sack of potatoes".  (Except Mo is the one who shouts out "sack uh tutatoes"!)

then Daddy has to pick them up & throw them over his shoulder and

grunt & moan & complain to me as to why I keep buying all these potatoes.  

And I say I just can't resist a good sale on potatoes, because they store so well.

And they love it.

Another bedtime game they love is "yucky things".

Every night I am expected to sing a lullaby to each child.

And Scott is expected to tell them yucky things.

He whispers excitedly to each child all the disgusting things they will get to eat for breakfast.

they gag & groan & squeal all the while.  

And then they compare notes as to whose yucky cocktail would really be the yuckiest.

I wonder what things the kids will look back on someday as being 

the weird & silly things their mom & dad did around here.
Maybe they'll recall something that I thought was perfectly normal, 
as being that weird thing mom always did.  
Who can say?

Do you have a practice of mothering you would like to tell others about? 
Join the link up on February 6th with Sarah Bessey.