A Day in the Life of an Ordinary Mom (who won’t be winning “mom of the year” anytime soon)
Typical Monday morning. Breakfast was finished and the 2 big boys had started on their schoolwork. I started on the breakfast dishes and realized that my 18 month old wasn’t standing next to me unloading the dishwasher as I loaded it. In fact, I couldn’t hear him or the 3 year old at all. Suspicious, but also momentarily peaceful. As I scrubbed the egg yolk off of the plates I knew I should probably go check and see what was keeping them so quietly occupied, because it was sure to be bad. I will just do a few more and then go check, I thought. Bad plan.
At that moment, my 3 year old came running in with blood all over her hand, screaming, “Blood, mommy, blood!” Tears were streaming down her face as I swooped her up to rinse her hand so I could get a better look.
“What happened??? What did you touch?” I asked.
“I touched nuffing!” She screamed, her voice rising to a crazed pitch. “I didn’t touch NUFFIN!”
I realized that these tears were of fear more than of pain. I lowered my voice almost to a whisper as I held her close, “Honey, I promise I won’t be mad, but I need to know what happened. Tell me what you touched that made you bleed.”
She just wailed, “NUFFING!” again, so I started carrying her toward the other end of the house to look for her little brother and the scene of the crime. She arched her back, “No! NOOOO! Not that way! Pwease! PWEASE! I DIDN’T TOUCH NUFFING!”
At this point I was pretty sure that “NUFFING” was code for “Something I KNOW I shouldn’t have touched, so therefore I will never admit it”. I continued to my bathroom where I saw my 18 month old delightedly shredding toilet paper and a small smear of blood beside my husband’s razor, which was lying on the ground.
“Sweetheart, did you touch daddy’s razor?”
“NOOOOO! He did! He did!”
“Then why are YOU bleeding?”
“He MADE he touch it! Don’t tell daddy, don’t tell daddy!”
As I cleaned her thumb and bandaged it, my 18 month old took advantage of my distraction to throw cat food in the toilet and brush his teeth with his big brother’s toothbrush. I finally ushered all of us out of the bathroom with my daughter still crying hysterically.
“Daddy will know what I did when he sees my bandaid! Don’t tell him! He will be mad!” (if as this point you think we beat and or torture our children when they misbehave, we don’t, but this particular child is very sensitive to even the mildest of reprimands).
I cuddled her and assured her that daddy would not be mad. I gave her a brief explanation of how razors work to cut the hair on daddy’s face, but no further lecture seemed necessary. I’m pretty sure she will keep her distance from it in the future.
And THAT dear readers is a sample of my daily life. It’s never the same, never repeated, yet always an element of chaos in the ordinary. My dishes still aren’t done. My 18 month old is still wandering around the house looking for mischief. And I am still here. Living this beautiful, crazy, ridiculous, insane, ordinary mom life as cheerfully imperfect as I can.
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DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor and the statements on this blog have not been evaluated by the FDA. Any products or techniques mentioned are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. I am just a mom who shares what works for me!
March 24, 2014 @ 6:32 pm
So glad im not alone! Thanks for posting this :)…I told my mom if I can keep them alive until they are 18 it will be a miracle in and of itself…definitely need much help from the One above!
March 24, 2014 @ 8:30 pm
Amen, Amanda!
March 24, 2014 @ 8:44 pm
I think this is my favorite post yet (and I love all of them)! Thanks for writing this!
March 24, 2014 @ 9:57 pm
Aw! Thanks! I love writing anecdotal stories, but sometimes put it off because they aren’t as generally popular as health and food topics. But these are my favorite to write (and read). Just wish everyone else felt the same way.
March 27, 2014 @ 10:02 am
love it! makes me feel like my life is normal & I am not a mental case or a bad mother, just doing the best I can with what I have been given. I always worry the most when they are quiet and then start laughing hysterically, thenit is a sure sign to move quick to find outwhat they are doing cause it can’t be something good.
mum to a 3yo, 18mo & surprise in 6 wks.
April 4, 2014 @ 5:13 am
So true and you would win Mom of the year because: you remained calm and soothing, you instilled the value of telling the truth, and validated that a Dad would not be mad but rather concerned for his sweet children.
A nice and encouraging read.