What I Want To Read: "The Mommy Brain"

"The Mommy Brain" usually refers to a head full of feeding times, soccer schedules, and nursery rhymes, at the expense of creative or challenging ideas.

--From the Web site The Mommy Brain.

I really, really, really need to read this book.

Now that we've left the fog of Zora's infanthood and managing to stay on the wild ride that is toddlerhood, I find myself ready to embrace me again. What do I mean by that?

• I want to know the difference between Hamas and Hezbollah, rather than knowing the difference between Thomas the Engine and the Troublesome Trucks.
  
• I want to read a book that doesn't have cardboard pages, lift the flaps, or faux fur on it.
  
• I want to eat small plates of Spanish-inspired cuisine, not small plates of prefab food like nuggets and meatballs.
  
• I want to stop saying, "oopies" when I drop something.
  

Don't get me wrong. I don't resent Zora for a second, but I've had the damndest time getting myself to transition from mommy mind to anything else. What makes this all the more frustrating is that Rodney seems to straddle fatherhood and thinking-person hood quite easily. As soon as he puts Zora down for a nap, he can read the Washington Post online or scan Slash.dot for his techy fix. Meanwhile, the minute Zora is down, I'm thinking about groceries, what we should do when she gets up, does she have enough shampoo?

Let it go, I tell myself. But my mind has a kung-fu death grip on these mundane details. What happened and will I get my mojo back?