i once knew everything as a mother

do you ever find yourself reminiscing about all the things you knew so much about before you actually did them?
like... being married, managing a household & income, and of course being a parent?
i try not to think too much about those days.
i knew so much back then,
and i have been known to say some pretty stupid things in those days.
i don't like to think about it too much because i wish i knew as much as now,
and i'm afraid i think i know too much about raising teenagers. :)
however, the one thing i do know now is how little i actually know about things
(like parenthood & children),
and i know when to keep my little knowledge tidbits to myself most of the time
(unless i'm talking to my sisters. i still readily share my knowledge in that venue).
because i've been down that road & am still on it,
i let tonight's conversation slide with a smile instead of a slap.
it humored me enough to want to write about it though.
i was chatting with a 1st time mom tonight who i haven't seen since she had her daughter.
her baby is 15 months.
she & maggie loved playing & got along great.
at one point they got a package of wipes & wanted to pull every one out.
i quietly & calmly took the package away
and then asked the mom if her daughter also loves pulling wipes out.
she said yes,
and before she finished her sentence i was excitedly telling her about a pinterest project i made for maggie hoping it would help divert her daughter from wasting packages of wipes or making it a pain to stuff them all back in the package.
after my excited & lengthy description she looked at me and said:
(in the 1st time mother voice, of course)
"i find that it works best to just tell her no."
good.
how did i miss that all this time!?
just say no?
now that's a magic formula.
in a friendly way i told her how lucky she is to have such an obedient daughter at such a young age.
(and she is lucky.)
i can't wait to hear about what a hit the fabric wipe box is after she has her 2nd baby.
oh, and i wish i had a dose of that 1st time mom optimism,
but i wouldn't trade the optimism for the experience that i have now on round 3.