I like being a mom. In fact, I love being a mom.
Of course, we all have our moments when we’re pretty sure we could strangle our kids or even strangle ourselves. It’s hard and I’m the first to admit it.
But generally, I think I do a pretty good job. I know that by watching my son. I see what a loving, caring, sweet, kind boy he is. I hear the incredibly thoughtful and intelligent questions he asks. I laugh at his silly antics every day.
I also hear people compliment me on what a good little boy he is. I love hearing that. I don’t take complete credit. I’ll give some to my husband and also chalk some up to Evan. I think we all take some responsibility in becoming the person we are, even at five years old.
The perfect child. Kind of. Luckily he’s forgiving.
But Wednesday morning was not a shining moment for me.
I’m pretty sure you know I’m not a morning person. I can be up in the morning. I’m just usually not very happy about it.
So when I got my flight itinerary for my trip to California to visit Toyota, I was excited that my morning flight was at 10:19am. That’s totally doable, even for a non-morning person.
And then you start thinking of the logistics and working backwards.
If my flight’s at 10:19, I need to be there around 9am. That means I have to drop Evan off at the sitter’s by 8:30 and I should realistically get up at 7am.
Actually, make it 6:45am so I still have time to snooze. It’s a mental thing.
And that’s exactly how things played out. I got up around 7am. I got Evan to his sitter’s around 8:30am and then…
The sitter wasn’t home.
SHE WASN’T HOME!
I panicked. She always watches Evan on Wednesdays. Maybe she took one of the kids to school. But if so, she wouldn’t be back before 9:30am. I couldn’t wait that long. Where could I take Evan?
I felt like this was a test.
My son, who already missed me from being gone last week, was going to be forced to quickly say goodbye to me again. And I was thinking of where to dump him.
WHAT TO DO????
Quickly, I remembered that the next door neighbors both worked from home and that Evan knew both of them quite well, since he often played with their son. Maybe they could watch him until his sitter got back. Because she was sure to come back, right?
I knocked on their door and explained the story. I felt like a heel. I felt like I was saying…
“Hey, can I dump my kid here? I’ve got to catch a flight to LA. I’m sure he’ll be fine. Keep in touch!”
It didn’t go entirely like that but he stayed there for a good two hours (to be fair, I don’t normally bring him until 10:30am). I forgot to tell her we would be early.
It turns out he spent two hours being utterly delightful and playing on the Wii. I’m proud of my little guy and how brave and resilient he is. I’m not so proud of myself.
I was thinking on my feet but I just hope it wasn’t a test. If so, I think I failed. Either way, I’m making sure I bring him back a really, really cool souvenir from California.
8 comments
Lol! Oh I have many “notsogreat” moments. I even FORGOT my KID!
I know, I’m so awesome.
Hang in there, apparently it gets better. LOL
I was forgotten a few times as a child. I’m determined NOT to do that as a parent!
Oh my gosh I would have been freaking my freak. Im sure your thankful for your sitters wonderful neighbors. Also? My kids only behave when someone else is watching them. For me they are terrible, but for their sitter they are great.
My kid is pretty good all the time but if he DOES decide to be bad, he saves it just for me.
I don’t know what I would have done! Stress through the roof though! :):)
Oh my gosh! I am so impressed that you thought of the neighbors. I might have gone into panic mode. And the truth is that the things that we think are the worst, are the times that where our children demonstrate the most resiliency.
Sounds to me like you handled it pretty well!
Dang girl … if that’s your worst mom moment you are AWESOME! And I promise he will NOT grow up scarred! 🙂