Peanut Butter Baby

You may be visiting this blog because of our viral video, Peanut Butter Baby. Never heard of it? That's alright. You can watch it here.Peanut Butter Baby

Many have wondered the background of how this happened.  Let me tell you the story:

Oct 2004--It was a day like any other in the life of a mom.  Three older kids had gone off to school and now it was time for me to get myself ready for the day.  Emily and Ethan and I had a music class to go to. I used the downstairs bathroom to do my hair and makeup that day so I could be closer to my two toddlers as they played..  I could hear them laughing; no worries!  Then, I walked into the kitchen to get them ready.  To my shock and surprise, those two were sitting on the table and Ethan was COVERED in peanut butter.  I had never seen anything like it! These are children #4 and #5 for me and my husband, so I had seen my share of toddler messes.  Not like this though! It was a mess, but I knew I wanted to remember it. How else would I accurately describe this picture of my day to my husband?
I grabbed the 8mm video camera and filmed for a couple of minutes, took some pictures then quickly grabbed the kids to get them cleaned off for music class.  Honestly, I was more frustrated that we were late for class than I was about the mess.
We arrived late and poor Ethan still had a little peanut butter goop in his eye.  After class, my friend, and leader of the class, was concerned that Ethan might have pink eye.  I laughed, told her it was just peanut butter and a little about what had happened.  We laughed together.
Later that day, I emailed the pics to my family and friends. Because, well, it was funny. (we were living hundreds of miles away from family at the time, and email was the main source of quick communication. This was WAAAAAYYY before facebook and smartphones.)
My sister said it was too bad that I didn't have video. When I explained that I did, she suggested that I send it to Oprah because Oprah was looking for funny videos.  I don't know why I obeyed her, but I did.
Nothing happened.
Three years later, we had moved to a new state and one Saturday morning in April, I got a call from an Oprah producer. (important fact...I hadn't changed my cell phone#. I am so grateful for that.) She still had our video and told me how she watched it often--it helped her feel better if she'd had rough day. I was shocked! We were invited to be guests on the Oprah show! (Ethan was now 5 years old.--2009)
It was a fun trip and we were surprised at how many people thought our video was funny and lighthearted. FaceBook was now "a thing" and I posted the video there. No big deal.  Years would go by without watching it again.

August 2015--We were in process of another big move.  I took a break from packing to browse FB.  I saw the video, commented how it still makes me laugh, and went on with my day.  That was a Tuesday.  By Wednesday afternoon it had been shared a few hundred times. By Thursday night, several thousand shares! I was getting messages from all over the world!! I was so surprised that so many had been touched by the innocence an simplicity of this little experience that, to me, was a day in the life of a mom. So many people commented, and complimented me on my parenting and how I handled the situation.  I don't know what to say to that, other than, "Thank-you!"  I do my best to love my kids because nothing is more important than family.
This experience teaches me a lot about choices and consequences; for we can make our choices, but we cannot choose the consequences, good or bad.
I chose to take pics and video, I chose to laugh and be gentle about the situation. I chose to obey my sister and share the video. Because of these choices, millions of people have smiled and felt joy, if only for  2 minutes in their day.  Because of these choices, these experiences are now a fun, and even important part of our family history.  Otherwise, they would still be hidden deep, on a 8mm video cassette, somewhere in a box!