It’s all in a day’s work when you’re a mom—
Today my daughter, who will be three in a few days, threw her sock in the toilet. I’m not exactly sure how this happened. She’s just been potty trained and sometimes like to close the door when she goes in to “tinkle.” I know this is not a good idea, as curious preschoolers left alone in a room tend to get into things, but still, I respected her privacy and left her alone—just this once.
After a few minutes she came out with one sock on and one sock off. Other than this, she had completely gotten herself naked, another common occurrence these days.
“I got my sock out of the toilet, Mommy!” she squealed. She looked so pleased with herself that for a moment I didn’t register what she was saying. Then it sunk in. Sock—in—the—toilet. Uh-oh. I wondered what else may have been in there. And had she flushed it?
I fished the sock out of the toilet and gave her a short but firm lecture about not putting things in the toilet. Let’s hope it sticks.
Later that same day, when she hurt her leg, she came to me crying. I kissed the owie, as mothers always do, and then asked her if she thought she’d survive…a logical question I thought since she was crying like she’d just had dental surgery without Novocain. She shook her head yes and then I asked her if she needed surgery (note to moms, this one stops them crying every time). She looked up at me with crocodile tears and said, “No, Mama, I just need you.” Okay—memory of the sock was gone.
In a moment, kids can drive you crazy. In another moment, they can melt your heart. When my kindergartener got out of the car yesterday to go to school, he started to walk away, then he yelled, “Wait, Mommy!” I thought he forgot something, but instead he turned around and promptly bowed like a gentleman who has just met the Queen.
It’s all in a day’s work for a mom. “We take the good, we take the bad, we take it all and there we have the FACTS OF LIFE.”
Enjoy the moments.