The Kid Turned out Fine : Moms Fess up about Cartoons, Candy, and What It Really Takes to be a Good Parent by Paula Ford-Martin
Author:Paula Ford-Martin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook
Publisher: Adams Media
Published: 2011-06-30T00:00:00+00:00
Just This Once
BY JOSEE MALO
Quite significantly, it happened on a Monday. When I decided to go back to work part-time after the birth of my baby I pictured my Mondays at home with my baby full of laughs, long walks, homemade cookies, story books, and finger painting. Dazzling moments, somewhere between a diaper commercial and the cover of a parenting magazine.
But the image had never really come into focus. After a year, it was still far from glossy. There we were, my sixteen-month-old and me: it was Monday. But there were no arts and crafts in sight. No aroma of freshly baked goodies. And the only sound one could hear for miles around was my heavy sighing. Providing the tyrant was not whining, of course.
It had been quite a morning. No food would pass those toddler lips. The loud “No!” that still sounded so cute yesterday was about to make me lose my mind. No airplanes, no cars, no trucks would open the little garage door. With all these vehicles in the kitchen, it had to end in a crash: everything found its way to the floor … to the golden retriever's delight.
I admit that I was a bit nervous that day. Friends were dropping by to have coffee after lunch. Of course, that meant I had a lot of picking up to do. Then get myself ready. And, of course, the dictator had to be ready to perform too. I was well aware that he was the real reason for the visit—although I suspect that checking on how well (or how poorly) I was handling motherhood was also part of the motive. My head was pounding and it was not even 9:00 A.M. Some of you will say that it is not enough to justify my actions. I know. But wait: I have more excuses.
Because of the headache, I had decided to start with what I thought would create the least amount of protest, and, hence, noise: cleaning up the house. Well, cleaning might be too fancy a word for what is basically hiding most of the mess and clearing the counter. The toddler was getting pretty good at playing by himself for a little while so I figured that I could probably get the dishes cleaned. Well, it turned out he was pretty good every other day. Not this Monday. He clung to me so much that it felt as though I had grown another limb.
I managed to get the house half decent by 11 o'clock, with my third leg in tow. My headache was the size of the Empire State Building when I caught sight of myself in the mirror, blurry image in a spray of window cleaner. Faded leggings and ripped sweatshirt would not do. Hair … When was the last time I had a shower? That's when a funny smell hit me, despite the mist of ammonia clouding my head. Either it had been a longer time than I thought since I had seen soap or my extra leg had started to stink.
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