Thursday, May 3, 2012

Best Mom Award - Again

You would think after taking Peter on a special trip to the zoo, that I would be feeling good about my mothering today, but you know, sometimes things happen that totally shift the momentum of the day.  Like for instance, maybe it is time to take your daughter to her harp lesson and your little 3 year old is crying and begging to go with you, which of course, you know isn't going to work out because he will be a bit of a distraction at the lesson if he goes.
So, you call into your 13 year old that you need an intervention, and you hear him respond so you know he heard you, and you head on your way to said harp lesson, leaving your sobbing 3 year old behind in the usually capable hands of your 13 year old.
Only, it turns out that the 13 year old, upon hearing the 3 year old close the door, assumes he has come inside and gone downstairs to play with his sisters, (because of course, he can hear them down there) and doesn't realize that in fact, the 3 year old has closed the door while remaining outside on the porch.
(There has been some discussion as to why the 13 year old did not actually check to see that the 3 year old made it inside.)
Unfortunately, the 3 year old is not always able to re-open the front door from the outside once it has been closed, and so usually knock or calls for someone inside to open it for him.  So maybe, if the 13 year old is already occupied in something on the computer, and thinks his little brother is inside, he may not really hear (or pay attention to) the knocking or calling or crying that was taking place.  (Once again this has been a topic of discussion for us.)
So when you return from the harp lesson 45 minutes later, and you are walking up to the house, you maybe squint and think to yourself, "What is that on the front porch?" 
And as you get closer you just about burst into tears when you realize it is the same little 3 year old that you left sobbing on the porch, and you see that he has cried himself to sleep on the doormat.
And it breaks your heart a little bit, and all you can think to do is go in and have a discussion with the usually capable 13 year old that you left in charge, while acknowledging once again, that you still don't always have this mothering thing figured out, and hoping that none of the neighbors saw this and called child protective services.
Ah well, I guess I can always try for that Best Mom Award again tomorrow.

3 comments:

Marti said...

Hey...at least he stayed on the doorstep. My boys would have been gone. Long gone.

Julie said...

best.post.EVER.

Thierry said...

That is hilarious! Hilarious!