They Call Me Mom (and a recipe for a Brown Sugar + Vanilla Iced Latte)
By Sarah Hauser
@sarah.j.hauser
I sit in my office upstairs as my youngest rolls trucks around his room and presses buttons on an electronic book. He’s dropped his nap over a year earlier than my other two kids. I’m not ready. So just like with his older siblings, I tell him he doesn’t have to sleep, but we’re going to have quiet time. He needs to rest. I also explain that it’s Mommy’s quiet time, too. I’m not shy about this.
I settle into my chair, a blanket pulled over my lap, coffee at the ready, and a book in hand. His calls begin.
“Mom! We didn’t do our reading lesson!” (He’s two. He doesn’t do a reading lesson.)
“Mom! Are there monsters in my room? Mom! I found a monster on the wall! Mom! Is it LEGO time?”
I let his questions hang in the air, because I know answering them will lead to more. For a few seconds, I hear nothing. I look down at my book.
“Mom!” I clench my jaw at the sound of my name and wait for him to continue.
“Is quiet time all done?”
“No, Buddy, quiet time’s not done.”
“Mom! The timer went off!” (No, it definitely didn’t.)
“Mom! Is quiet time done?” (Still no.)
He continues this monologue. I opt not to answer and stay in my chair, rereading the same three sentences. “So much for quiet time,” I mumble to no one in particular.
***
I said to my husband a few days ago that if I hear, “Mom!” one more time today, I’m going to lose it. Even on weekends when he’s home all day, the kids often call for me. Sometimes I can be all the way upstairs while they’re in the basement with their dad, and they’ll yell for me. Most of the time, it drives me bonkers. I’m exhausted from three tiny humans needing things from me, wanting to know what we’re doing today, and asking, “Why?” incessantly. It’s the main reason why I keep enforcing an afternoon quiet time, although that’s proving to be an exercise in futility.
After just a few years, the role of Mom has worn me down. I feel like a favorite blanket that’s nearly threadbare. Hearing calls for mom again and again, being needed and beckoned every hour of the day, makes me come apart at the seams. By dinnertime, can the blanket just sit unneeded on the couch? She’s tired, stained with coffee and toddler snot, and could really stand to get washed.
***
A while back, I watched an episode of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, Jerry Seinfeld’s show where he literally drives around with comedians getting coffee. In one particular scene, Seinfeld and Martin Short sit in a booth sipping demitasse cups of espresso. Short remarks about the fame and the joy of performing. But then he says, “But at the end of the day, even when so many people know me by name, there are only three people in the world who can call me Dad.”
These two grown men get almost teary-eyed. They’re household names and the best at what they do. Yet there they sit, soaking in the fact that only a few can call them by their most beloved name.
***
I take a sip of my coffee and pick my book up again. After a few sweet moments of silence I hear, “Mom! I peed in my undies!”
Potty accidents often interrupt my own agenda these days, and I’m forced to give into his calls. I set my book on the side table and take another swig of coffee.
“Moooom!”
“I’m coming!” I meet him at his bedroom door. He grins that mischievous grin that allows him to get away with nearly anything. My annoyance melts, and I can’t help but smile.
I’ve heard my name thousands of times today, or at least it feels like that. But as I look down at these blue eyes staring back at me, I remember: only three people in the world can call me “Mom.” And he’s one of them.
“Mom! Is quiet time all done?” he asks for the third time in five minutes. I lead him down the hall to the bathroom.
“Yes, Bud. Quiet time is all done.”
Brown Sugar + Vanilla Iced Latte
Everyone’s preferences differ for the coffee to milk ratio. I generally use about equal parts cold brew and milk with a splash of syrup, but taste as you go and adjust accordingly!
Brown Sugar + Vanilla Syrup (recipe below)
Cold brew coffee concentrate (store-bought or use the recipe below)
Whole milk or non-dairy milk of choice
Ice
Fill a large glass with ice. For a 16-ounce glass, I add in about 1 ounce of Brown Sugar + Vanilla Syrup, followed by about a half cup each of cold brew and milk. Stir well and enjoy!
Brown Sugar + Vanilla Syrup
Yields about ¾ cup
1/2 cup brown sugar, very lightly packed
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (or the seeds scraped from half a vanilla bean pod)
Add all the ingredients to a small saucepan set over medium heat. Bring just to a boil, stirring the whole time to help the sugar dissolve. Reduce the heat to low and then simmer for about 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool completely.
Add however much you like to your iced latte. Store leftover syrup in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a couple weeks.
Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate
You can make cold brew coffee a number of different ways. Here’s one way to do it at home without using fancy coffee gear.
1 cup coarsely ground coffee
4 cups cold water
Containers or pitchers
Cheesecloth and fine mesh strainer
Add coffee to a pitcher. Pour the cold water over the grounds, ensuring that all of the grounds get wet. Let it steep for about 12-14 hours.
After the coffee has steeped, pour the mixture through the cheesecloth to strain it. I like to set the cheesecloth over a fine mesh strainer to ensure all the grounds get removed.
Once the coffee is strained, cover and store it in your refrigerator. Leftover concentrate can be refrigerated for up to two weeks.
Note: You can also make the cold brew in a French Press. Add the coffee and water to a French Press, let it steep for 12-14 hours, and then strain using the plunger on the French Press. “Pressing” the coffee will change the flavor slightly, and you may see residual grounds in your cold brew that don’t get strained out. But if you’ve got a French Press handy, it can be a really convenient and still tasty method!
Words and photos by Sarah Hauser.