She's "Funny"

I'm blogging from the road again today, on my trusty iPad. This post will no doubt be filled with typos and misspelled words, as my spellcheck deserts me every time I type on this thing. Remember, you were warned. I am overjoyed that my baby and I survived her first night sleeping away from home without me. My kids stayed at their grandparents' house last night while my husband and I worked at a horse show. My little one and I are pretty tight, what with that whole "only source of food" for awhile there thing we had going on when she was a baby. I like her and she likes me, a  LOT. That makes me really happy, but also makes it difficult to spend time away from her. She's on her way back now, and I'm ready to kiss those chubby little cheeks and smell her sweet baby smell. Not to be confused with her "I just pooped" smell. I could go the rest of my life without experiencing that smell again and die a happy woman.
Speaking of poop, one of the most common subjects in our home since we became parents, who decided that it was "different when it's your child?" I remember being grossed out at the sight of a cousin's child's dirty diaper. She smiled and said, "Oh, it's different when it's your baby." Um, not so much for me! Poop is poop, and vomit is vomit, whether it came out of your child or someone else's. It's disgusting, any way you slice it. I've looked at my beautiful newborns at least a hundred times and wondered how something so awful could come out of something so precious. Sorry, yet-to-be parents. True story.
So back to the whole Southern women and kids thing... I thought of something my mother used to say that struck me as really odd now that I am a parent. When describing a mutual friend she often said, "And you know she's real funny about who she lets keep her kids." The way she said it always made that sound like a bad thing. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that part of your job as a mother? Shouldn't we all be "funny" about who we let look after our children? I think that if parents were more selective about who they left their kids with, there would be fewer tragedies in this world. Abusive alcoholic boyfriend, anyone? Sounds like fantastic babysitter material to me!
I've lost count of the number of times the parent of a young teenage daughter have said to me, "Now so-and-so babysits! Call her this summer, she needs to earn some extra money." Nothing personal, folks, but if you expect me to leave my kids alone with your daughter, she need to be old enough to drive. And make wise decisions, and have eyes in the back of her head, and be able to cook - oh wait, that's me! Anyway, you're asking me to trust your kid with three of the most precious people in the world to me. Three precious people that I gave up my figure, my sanity, and countless hours of sound sleep for. That's a lot of responsibility. I don't take it lightly, and she shouldn't either. So please don't be offended if I don't call. It's nothing personal. I guess I'm just "funny" about who I let keep my kids.