Is it just me or do other mothers feel like they border on manic? Yesterday was an amazing day with my kids. Today, however, I found myself looking for that silly club started on Facebook. It’s called something like “I need a glass of wine before I give my kids away.” I need to get better at dealing with the inevitable highs and lows of this position!
Yesterday was bliss. We didn’t even do a whole lot, but sometimes those are the best days. We read lots of books, and I helped Tom learn some of his letters. He actually drew a whole bunch on his own and was very proud of himself. I had several of those “I could easily have a couple more kids” moments as I applauded myself for the calm and caring children I am raising. I felt like I was the Martha Stewart of motherhood, like I could host my own show and tell everyone else how to do it. “See, my kids sit quietly and color for hours. And they share. And they wait their turn. Aren’t they just beautiful? If you work at it like me for hours on end, you’ll have a perfect little finished project or two…”
Today I woke up with a bit of a sore throat. I made my way downstairs, where the troubles began. Hadley nicely offered to pour Tom a bowl of cereal (unsupervised activity). She pulled out a tiny plastic bowl, sat down on the floor, and began pouring a newly-opened box of cereal into it for him. And pouring and pouring and pouring. This does not jive well when you are trying to feed your family on $150 a week.
We were totally unorganized for the bus and almost missed it. I remember looking over at the clock and realizing there were just 5 minutes to spare. My eyes popped out of my head like pie plates as I thought “how the hell am I going to get 3 kids and all their stuff into the car and up the street in time?” I was frantically shoving snow pants, mittens, and lunchboxes into 3 backpacks. Let’s hope Tom doesn’t pull out Hadley’s purple mittens for recess or else it’ll be all over (he won’t wear pink or purple, he’d rather get frostbite). By the time we left the house, I felt like I had just completed an aerobics class I was sweating so much.
Tom has a pretty bad cold, so I cancelled a play date he had been looking forward to after school. He launched into a tirade, calling me names (dumb mom, poopy head mom), and bawling all the way to school.
Gordie forgot HIS backpack and lunch (yes, I said backpack, must be an I-was-raised-in-Vermont thing…) so I had to meet him with it.
When we dropped Hadley off to school, I picked her up to bring her in and she kicked (not on purpose) wet brown slush all over my sweatpants. I wish it were enough of an excuse to not be out exercising like I am supposed to be right now, but I am afraid it’s not.
Now I suppose I’ll deal with the rest what the day has in store for me. Here’s hoping I can keep all the wheels on the cart and coast along a bit. So if you ever think you’re the only one who feels like you’re on Cloud 9 some days and like you should be popping a couple of muscle relaxents in the preschool pick-up line on other days, call me. It’s a 50/50 shot I’ll be on the ledge too, and we can talk each other down!!