Dumb Mommy Moments. Yes, I have them. They are the moments when I wish I could hit the stop button, rewind and start all over again. A do-over would be nice. Now, I would love to say that I have experienced only one Dumb Mommy Moment in the short 3 1/2 years of H's life. But then you could yell, "LIAR!!!" at me. I am seriously blessed that I have actually managed to limit the number of Dumb Mommy Moments so that they don't happen every day, week, or even month. But they happen. Oh boy do they happen!
Picture it: my son who refused to even bring a glass of milk up to his lips after coming off of formula, suddenly asks me for a glass of milk. After nearly dying of shock, I ran to that fridge so seriously fast that I almost tripped over his toys on the floor (that's right, we are not perfect and there are ALWAYS toys on our floor) and almost spilled out half the things in the fridge trying to reach for the milk. Now, a normal, sane mommy would have given the child one glass of milk with a huge smile of satisfaction. Oh no! Not me! I proceeded to give my child about 5 glasses of milk out of sheer excitement at the change in his distaste for milk. And then the fun began as he proceeded to throw up all night long. Dumb Mommy Moment.
Or how about the time when I had an incredibly easy drop-off at school because H had a chance to go run on the big kid track with the other kids and the preschool director. Again, a normal, sane mommy would run to her car and drive away in stealth mode to avoid being spotted. Nope! Not me! I thought it was so stinking cute that he was running the track that I drove by so super slowly to get a picture. In fact, I drove by so slowly that all I did was allow my wonderfully happy child to realize that his mommy was on the getaway. That's when he ran, screaming crying the whole length of the fence following my car as the director ran after him. (Don't worry, I stopped, comforted him through the fence, and he returned happily to running with the director.) Not worth the possible adorable photo shoot. Dumb Mommy Moment.
And then yesterday happened. Every single day, the hubby and I battle H's need to run in the house. Our child is a runner, constantly on the move. We live on the 2nd floor! Every time I see our downstairs neighbor (divorced dad of 2 thank goodness) I apologize for the Tazmanian Devil he lives under. So, now imagine the moment when I lost all common sense and not only allowed my child to run in the house but actually was the mastermind behind the cat and mouse game of running back and forth in our living room (um, hello?!) as I pretend to miss catching him. And then I caught him. Except not really. His momentum forced him over my arm so fast that his face (nose to be exact) grazed the carpet. Well, needless to say we had a quick phone call to my sister (and saviour doing her residency in PEDIATRICS!!), iced his nose and watched him very carefully for any signs of a broken nose and a possible need for a trip to the ER. Turns out - just a little bit of rug burn on the tip of his nose and he was itching to run again. Imagine his surprise when I suddenly returned to my "No running in the house" policy. Dumb Mommy Moment.
Luckily these are few and far between. But, that doesn't seem to help the feeling of total stupidity when I stand there realizing what I have just done and how I could have obviously avoided the situation. Clearly not in the running for the Perfect Mom Award!
Picture it: my son who refused to even bring a glass of milk up to his lips after coming off of formula, suddenly asks me for a glass of milk. After nearly dying of shock, I ran to that fridge so seriously fast that I almost tripped over his toys on the floor (that's right, we are not perfect and there are ALWAYS toys on our floor) and almost spilled out half the things in the fridge trying to reach for the milk. Now, a normal, sane mommy would have given the child one glass of milk with a huge smile of satisfaction. Oh no! Not me! I proceeded to give my child about 5 glasses of milk out of sheer excitement at the change in his distaste for milk. And then the fun began as he proceeded to throw up all night long. Dumb Mommy Moment.
Or how about the time when I had an incredibly easy drop-off at school because H had a chance to go run on the big kid track with the other kids and the preschool director. Again, a normal, sane mommy would run to her car and drive away in stealth mode to avoid being spotted. Nope! Not me! I thought it was so stinking cute that he was running the track that I drove by so super slowly to get a picture. In fact, I drove by so slowly that all I did was allow my wonderfully happy child to realize that his mommy was on the getaway. That's when he ran, screaming crying the whole length of the fence following my car as the director ran after him. (Don't worry, I stopped, comforted him through the fence, and he returned happily to running with the director.) Not worth the possible adorable photo shoot. Dumb Mommy Moment.
And then yesterday happened. Every single day, the hubby and I battle H's need to run in the house. Our child is a runner, constantly on the move. We live on the 2nd floor! Every time I see our downstairs neighbor (divorced dad of 2 thank goodness) I apologize for the Tazmanian Devil he lives under. So, now imagine the moment when I lost all common sense and not only allowed my child to run in the house but actually was the mastermind behind the cat and mouse game of running back and forth in our living room (um, hello?!) as I pretend to miss catching him. And then I caught him. Except not really. His momentum forced him over my arm so fast that his face (nose to be exact) grazed the carpet. Well, needless to say we had a quick phone call to my sister (and saviour doing her residency in PEDIATRICS!!), iced his nose and watched him very carefully for any signs of a broken nose and a possible need for a trip to the ER. Turns out - just a little bit of rug burn on the tip of his nose and he was itching to run again. Imagine his surprise when I suddenly returned to my "No running in the house" policy. Dumb Mommy Moment.
Luckily these are few and far between. But, that doesn't seem to help the feeling of total stupidity when I stand there realizing what I have just done and how I could have obviously avoided the situation. Clearly not in the running for the Perfect Mom Award!
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