Supporting you in motherhood, one little blog post at a time
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Today I will be attending multiple celebrations with the boys’ classrooms. I promise, I will not bring my flask (as much as I may really, really want to). So, have a great day and may the luck of the Irish rain down upon you.
And, I’m thinking McDonalds really should start giving me some sort of kick-back. Don’t you?
Full Speed has to start patching his right eye again. It’s not that big a deal since we’ve been patching since he was two years old for three hours a day (or so I thought). He has had a good stretch without patching because his vision improved so tremendously since his surgeries. On his last ophthalmology appointment his doctor determined patching five days a week for only an hour would be a good preventative step to keep his vision equal in both eyes. I didn’t think twice about it. I ordered some patches on-line and waited for them to arrive.
The first day of patching, and believe me, I had done a lot of prep-work talking at length with Full Speed about it, I thought it would be a breeze. Full Speed seemed good until… at the first sign of an actual patch, he lost it completely. He started screaming, turned completely red and with a body shaking so much from angry defiance, shouted repeatedly that he would ‘NEVER EVER!!!’ wear a patch.
Yeah, that was a super-fun evening. Luckily, he is older, wiser and ultimately he does what he is told. By the second day he was wearing his patch like an old pro (he thinks it’s pretty cool that he has weekends off) and all is well. However, it gave me pause to know that the out-of-control toddler temperament looms just beneath his surface.
I really should think about hiring a bodyguard.
I came across one of those mommies today. The kind that just rub you the wrong way with a look or the way they ‘properly’ discipline their seemingly ‘perfect’ children. It’s obvious that their intent is to attempt to model appropriate parenting techniques in the hopes that someone as hopeless as yourself can glean some valuable parenting knowledge.
I had the boys at the park. They actually were behaving (relatively speaking) for me quite well and it was turning into an enjoyable late afternoon. Then it started to get tense. Full Speed was off doing his own thing while little T.Puzzle was climbing up the slide and jetting down it into a pile of playground friends (who were all boys and who were clearly loving every minute of it). Since most of the kids were similar in size, I didn’t correct him. Soon enough, a little toddler boy waddles over and tries to join the mix. His mom immediately steps in and admonishes him not to climb up the slide and that it is ‘dangerous!’. I could totally respect this UNTIL she looks directly at ME and then says, ‘thank you!’ to her little boy like he is so kind and miraculous that he always pleasantly follows her command. She clearly was trying to make a point.
I get it. I realized as soon as the little guy came up, that T.Puzzle would need to change his game plan. And he did. I made him use the stairs or climb up the side of the playground equipment and use the slide ‘properly’ while the little guy was around. I am not oblivious to the needs or safety of other children when my boys are around. I do my best to keep everyone happy and safe and sometimes my guys sweetly comply (like today thank God) or they cause a big stink but eventually they do comply. Or, simply we leave the scene of the crime as quickly as humanly possible.
What I cannot tolerate are mothers who are so uptight that they wear their icy judgment like a coat of armor. They look at you and your kids with such obvious disdain, that it is almost impossible for you to choke down the words of frustration that are creeping up your throat. But I managed to keep these words at bay. I did my best to ignore her as she talked furiously on her cell-phone full of complaints about who-knows-what for the remainder of our time at the park.
As hard as I tried to tune her out, I couldn’t help but thinking that what I really wanted to do was to go over to her, remove the cell-phone from her hand, tell her to pay attention to her kids and end the interaction with a pointed ‘thank you!’.
Maybe she has something to learn, too.
If you have read my recents posts, clearly I may not be excelling in the realm of motherhood at the moment. That’s why, as a Mom, it is imperative you have other outlets to help build you up during your children’s ‘difficult phases’. Of course the boys’ ‘difficult phase’ pretty much started at birth and has yet to diminish, but that is another matter for another day.
Anyway, I make valiant attempts at being a well-rounded mother. I belong to a book club so I am forced to read at least one book a month. I write this blog to prove to myself that not all of my brain cells have left me. And, I volunteer for a wonderful organization called Vision Is Priceless (for fairly obvious reasons).
This past weekend, Vision Is Priceless held their annual fundraiser. It is western-themed and BBQ (which is awesome) is served. I helped the staff set-up and did what I could at the event to lend a hand. I had a fantastic time. I met great people, had actual adult conversation (with several people no less!) and shared some of my story of our family’s vision adventures.
I am grateful my boys have had stellar eye-care from the on-set of all of their vision issues. Vision Is Priceless is working hard so that everyone who needs it may have the same.
Thanks to VIP for making me feel needed and useful. I like knowing I am helping with the bigger picture. That way on days when I am up to make neck in tantrums and smack-downs, I have a little something extra to get me through.
We are in the truck headed as a family to Lowes. Originally, we had said we would go to Home Depot, but Lowes ended up having the faucet we wanted. Full Speed initially wasn’t too happy at our change of plan. He likes to run errands close to home (Home Depot is right outside our subdivision) and didn’t like the sound of driving what he considers far (8 miles) to the nearest Lowes. He eventually realizes it won’t be so bad and determines that Lowes is like ‘a cousin’ of Home Depot and goes forth with a good attitude.
For about all of three seconds, the boys sit nicely in the cart together and even exchange some ‘i love yous’. Mad Dog is impressed that they are getting along so nicely. I tell him to give it ten minutes and check again. Turns out we only needed about thirty seconds before things head south.
I had to put T.Puzzle in time-out, threaten Full Speed and then I had to take them both to look at kitchens so Mad Dog could have some peace to pick out what we needed. The kitchen adventure part went fairly well (we all liked the red one the best) but check-out was disastrous. I had to place little T.Puzzle in time-out again and this time he screams so loud the whole store is stopped in their tracks looking for the source of the commotion. I get the keys, grab him by the arm and half-carry, half-drag him to the truck. The entire journey to the truck he yells and screams (mostly for Mad Dog) all the while attempting to hit and kick me. I try to walk calmly and to interact as rationally as I can with him. Mostly he just winds up in a wailing jumble in the backseat and I stay outside the truck hoping he stops.
I am tired. Tired of the embarrassment, the frustration and the constant battle. Not a great day. Not a great day at all.