MamaSteph!

If you live on the South Shore and you're a Mom, you probably know MamaSteph. In our home, she's legendary. These photos are from this summer (obviously, I mean I do indeed sweat in sweaters, but I don't rock a tank top in November) and it was probably our 4th time to see her. We've kinda become groupies.

Try and picture it: Scituate Library. Vera Bradley diaper bags litter the floor, Volvo keys in side pockets, babies and toddlers adorned in Gymboree outfits, breasts feeding babies underneath boutique blouses (it's Scituate, not tapestry-blanketed Brookline...I don't stereotype at all though), and parents and children, fixated on one very imporant woman: Mama Steph.

She has a guitar. Long, silver hair (I'm going to bet that the idea of coloring her hair is completely foreign to her), printed batik skirt and tank top. Here is my notion of Mama Steph: she eats organic vegetables that she grows, natch, in her backyard. She eats whole foods, she does serious yoga. She is happy. She sings constantly, finding rhymes about anything. She sang songs to her children about maple syrup, about tennis shoe laces ("and you can turn them into all kinds of funny faces!"), about the way the (organic) cucumber is the perfect crunch for the perfect lunch! She sings like a child of the 60's and really does just put all of us in a trance.

For awhile this summer, I utilized, with great success, the MamaSteph Behavior Management System. When the toddler got a bit naughty, I pulled MamaSteph out of my pocket with fantastic results.

"Do you think MamaSteph would like to see you do that?

What would MamaSteph say?

Do you think MamaSteph would like to see you push Sissy like that?"

It was way too easy.

But the summer faded and MamaSteph took some time off so I was back to positive framing and specific behavioral phrase and all the other bs that we use in our house.
This Friday, however, we returned.

Back to the library with now, Ann Taylor sweater sets, Dansko clogs, baby carriers and lined Crocs. Back to singing about the library (she has a whole song about the library...can you imagine?), Doogie and Finn (her puppies, and of course they have an older brother named Angus) and her stuffed animals (featured in the pics) Cozy and Cinnamon. It was back to rhyming about the alphabet and the Muffin Man (he lives on Drory Lane-O), and those five funny monkeys.

I'm pretty sure my kids like her. They both rocked side to side and my oldest showcased shy grins that said "That is MamaSteph! Right in front of me!", but I have to wonder: am I there for them? Or me?