I'm THAT mom... again.

Kids, here's your lunch! This week has its own theme. It's THAT important.

I've started making lunches for the kids to take to school. Thanks to clean eating, and Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, and well, my own eyes, nose and taste buds, allowing the kids to eat the lunch food just doesn't seem like a responsible thing to do. Mind you, there's been a lot of changes in the lunch room since I was a student attaining my oily skin and thunder thighs by slurping down fiestada's and whole chocolate milk. But whatever.

Everyday for the last three years, I've been putting money into a lunchmoney account - $20 a week- and then asking the kids, "What did you have for lunch today?" and "What did you eat off of the cart?" Because the vegetables and fruit are on a cart. The kids can walk right by it if they choose. Thankfully, mine don't. Or they say they don't. But they usually get the peaches or pineapple that are bathing in fruit syrup and that defeats the purpose of any nutritional value as far as I'm concerned. Sometimes they get salad, but word on the streets is the salad is simply a utensil for a soup of ranch dressing. Gross. And they always get the chocolate milk which is so thick with syrup it makes me want to gag. The chocolate milk they serve has more sugar in it than a coke. Yes it does. Really.

So, I started making their lunches. I kept it fun and quasi healthy. I certainly don't pack tofurkey sandwiches. But I try to keep it on the up and up. To keep them interested in these lunches, I started writing on the napkin, and I was swiftly told: "No mushy notes on the napkins, Mom" That's when I started writing animal facts on the napkin. The animal facts are a big hit. I get them from a giant kids' encyclopedia, one of three we have around here. I'm not running low on facts, y'all. Every morning, I make their lunch, I write a fact, they go to school. Max and Lucy love getting to lunch and seeing what animal it is today, and they eat their wholesome goodness well-balanced lunch. Even the carrots. All is right with the world.

The new assistant principal started reading their animal facts - because the kids were already sharing them with their whole table. And so, he reads them and the kids told me he always comes and checks on what animal of the day they have. I'm officially cool.

A few months of this go by and I see the assistant principal at a family function and we banter about my cool animal facts and how much the kids love them. When another school faculty member joins in and deflates my ever-sensitive ego with: "I would love to be THAT mom, but I just can't."

Not, "You're so busy, how do you do it?" or "That's so cool that you keep their minds stimulated while they eat NUTRITIOUS food, not the shit we serve here and they they focus on reading and science while they eat." Nothing like that. Just "Oh, you're THAT mom."

I'm well aware that I'm a wee bit oversensitive to this comment. But let's be real, I've already been accused of being "THAT mom" last year. I'm trying to be a good attentive mom, engaged in my kids education and all that crap. And instead of being revered for it, I'm getting a reputation of overbearing and negative connotation for it. Someone should just give me an effn trophy. I'm just sayin.

I'm a little sensitive to the comment because 1)I'm busier now, more than ever, and B) I like to keep myself busy with motherhood by overcompensating for my own childhood. I'm busier with what has accumulated to full-time work load. And I'm still in denial about going from part-time to full-time work, but the math equation is simple: (two schools to part-time teach for) X (each school giving you more hours you asked for, dumbwad) = full time plus some. Clearly, I'm more busy than ever.

If by THAT mom, you mean, active in the kids' lives, not drunk, and fairly overcompensating, you're damn right I am, lady. It takes me 10 minutes to make their lunches. It takes about 2 minutes to write the notes. So, if you mean, "Oh you're THAT mom who commits 12 minutes to your kids lunches." Yes. I. Am. This is gonna blow your mind too, we make them a hot breakfast every morning too. And then their dinner is usually homemade too including two vegetables, a protein and a carb.

Truly I think the woman wasn't taking a stab at me, but she really does wish she had the capacity to write a note to her kids. My point is, she does if I do. She is a busy and hard-working woman She's up at the school, ALL THE TIME, just like I've been accused of, which is probably why I'm so sensitive to comments like this. Ofcourse, she works there, but whatever. I also think her kids are older. So, writing a note to them might not be as embraced by her kids. Still, the comment obviously struck a chord with me. For a millisecond, it even made me doubt myself. Am I hovering too much or being too attentive to my kids?

And then a few days later, Max got in the car and started talking about how everyone loved his napkin today. He didn't know all that about Eagles, and it was so cool.

I will continue to be THAT mom as long as my kids let me.

That's how I roll.