Very, very sad… I was playing with my 3-month old on the bed and turned to grab a kleenex to wipe some boogies. By the time I turned back, he wiggled his way to the end of the bed and fell off! AUGH! He didn’t make a peep and was actually giggling on the floor. Mommy was crying like crazy! I called my own Mom and she said it probably wouldn’t be the last time my little boy fell off something. Ooooo – I don’t know if I can handle all MY tears when he falls!
My most imperfect parenting moment occurred when I had four kids, the youngest was 1, and my husband was away on a business trip. I was out of food, and just didn’t get to do the food shopping because I was being run so ragged with the kids, and for dinner I served Fruit Rollups. Yikes! I still cringe at the thought.
My 3 year old is a train fanatic. We were at a park when we saw a train for kids, the kind takes a ten minute ride around the perimeter. so he was jumping up and down with excitement. We got our tickets and got on. I recognized the woman in front of me as a former co-worker. We were chatting when the train started up. As it began to pass the little station, there were a bunch of kids waving and I saw my son with them (!) He wasn’t next to me anymore. And the train was picking up speed. I jumped out of the moving train and landed on my butt right in front of him. It wasn’t going that fast thankfully. About 10 miles per hour. But it still hurt. When I looked up at my son, he said, “Mommy, you’re missing the train!”
My family was shopping at a toy store a few months ago. Our 5 year old daughter needed to go to the potty, so my husband took her. He left me with our 2 1/2 year old son. I was waiting in line to checkout when they left. Somehow I got caught up in the moment of checking out and totally forgot that I had a child with me. I paid for our selections, and when my husband returned, he said, “Where’s Joe?” And I said, “Wasn’t he with you?!” After realizing that neither one of us had him, I started screaming his name in the store. and running down the aisles. I felt my heart sink into my toes. I was frantic and totally guilty to say the least. Next thing I know, he comes running towards me with a sword in his hand saying, ” Mama, I love this sword like Captain Hook. Can we buy it?” Thank goodness we were in a toy store otherwise, I would have been in a really bad way.
When I was pregnant, I honestly couldn’t wait for my baby….so that I could drink alcohol again. I was a little surprised at what a sacrifice it seemed, especially being pregnant thru the Christmas holiday season. When I was in labour, our midwife came to our home to check me out and make the call about whether we were ready to go to the hospital to deliver. She noticed our going-to-hospital” bag parked by the front door…with a bottle of beer next to it. She asked about the bottle of beer, and my husband had to explain that it was my explicit wish for the first thing I wanted after the baby was born. The upshot is that I drank the beer in a delivery room at 5 AM, from a styrofoam cup. And it was delicious.”
Most times I dress my boys – 1-1/2 years apart – alike when we go to the playground so it is easier for me to tell where they are by having to look for only one outfit. It’s a rather large playground and naturally, they enjoy the utmost opposite things. One particularly beautiful, late-summer day, it was crowded and I was talking to another Mom, which is odd for me as I am always following one or the other of my boys at all times. (Until people realized I had two running around in the same outfits, they thought I was the neighborhood wacko.
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I’m so glad that I’m not the only one that has forgotten to buckle the car seat. I realized it while driving and stopped on Key Bridge (in DC) with my hazards on so I could reach back and buckle him. I was so shaken up it was hard to drive home.
Apparently, children aren’t allowed to climb trees anymore. I was in an open field next to a park and there was this really old oak tree. My 4 year old was immediately drawn to a low hanging limb. I watched him climb up the tree and on top of the limb. The limb was very thick and sturdy and not that high off the ground so I didn’t say anything. I was actually admiring his climbing skills when an older man came up behind me and started yelling at me. He told me that the tree was very old and my son was “hurting the tree”. He accused me of “allowing my children to run rampant”. My daughter was a good 50 yards away chasing a ball. I was so taken aback at his tone. I told my son to get off the branch and we left shortly after. Only after I got home did I question who was in the wrong. Since when are trees not for climbing?!!
We just moved to a new neighborhood and we finally got invited over for our first playdate. These two moms in one of our music classes invited my 3 year old son and I to come over after class. We of course accepted! I was very excited to make some new friends and imagined this playdate after music class becoming a ritual and our friendships flourishing… While we drank coffee downstairs and chatted, the children played upstairs. All seemed okay until the little girl (who’s house it was) came barreling down the stairs to announce that my son had peed in the toybox. My son came down soon after, confessing his crime and saying that the other children told him to do it. I was horrified. Before I could begin to apologize the other mother (it wasn’t even her house) asked me, “Does he pee in toy boxes at home?” How does a mother respond to something like that. Did she think I condoned that type of behavior? Did she think I allowed him to pee in toy boxes strewn around my house? That we don’t use toilets? Only toy boxes? She was obviously questioning my parenting and blaming me for my son’s behavior!! I was speechless. I went upstairs and tried to clean up what I could, I reprimanded my son, apologized profusely and sheepishly made my exit. And I haven’t been invited back since.
My 10 week old son, Wade, is adorable. Everyone says so. I love him tons. But I’m afraid I may soon start to hate him. He barely sleeps. I breastfeed him, rock him, sing to him, swing him, drive him, nothing works. I need my sleep. Like most human beings, without sleep I am: irritable, forgetful, sometimes nasty, confused, stupid and very unhappy. With sleep I may be some of these things but not all at once. I miss my sleep. No one mentioned this when I announced my pregnancy. At my baby shower. Picking out my layette. Never heard a peep. Is this some kind of a conspiracy?
