Yep, it’s Monday again, and I can’t believe it’s Thanksgiving week already! This year has flown by, hasn’t it?
The idea for this post came to me in two parts: first, as I was sitting in the car trying to find a bandaid, and second, as I was laying in bed the other night tyring to get to sleep.
Motherhood has an infinite amount of ups and downs – that is pure fact and I think any Mother (or Father) would have to agree with me. Sometimes these downs come in the form of physical hazards… I mentioned trying to find a bandaid in the car. Yes, the bandaid was for me (and I did have one – in my purse, in the little travel bandaid holder that every Mom has in her purse, right?).
Here’s what happened: Brayden had been throwing a fit as we were trying to load up into the car to go to school last Monday morning. It’s not uncommon, he’s three – ’nuff said. I don’t usually give in to giving him what he wants just because he’s whining about it (I believe that teaches them the wrong message), but hey, sometimes we have to pick our battles!
He wanted cookies. Yes, at 8:30am, he wanted his “favorite cookies,” which this month are the vanilla Snackimals (quite yummy actually – and he probably gets his desire for sweetness from his own Mother’s ridiculous sweet tooth, although I prefer cake). I’m tyring to get him into the car, Zackery is already buckled in, and Will just looks at me and says “give him the cookies.” We exchange some looks, a few words, and I run into the house to get THE cookies.
Fast forward, we get to Zackery’s school, we’re parked in “our” spot on the street. The weather’s been getting a little colder, so we’ve been sitting in the car a little longer before we get out. I usually wait until the crossing guard appears, at roughly 8:40am. I turn around and look at Brayden in his car seat behind me, his face just coverd in food. I honestly don’t know how he does it, but every time he eats, food just cakes itself onto his face (it’s supposed to go IN your mouth not AROUND your mouth…). Okay, let’s wipe your face before we get out of the car. I don’t want any of those other parents to think I’m a bad parent. I didn’t actually say all of that out loud, but you know you’ve had the same thoughts!
I grab the wipes, remembered it was a brand new container (the round kind to fit into my cup holder), opened the top and pulled the first wipe through the little plastic cross in the lid. I ripped one off, tried to close the lid so they wouldn’t dry out (pet peeve – dried up wipes) and splatter! Wipe juice (I don’t really know what else to call it) splattered all over my face and the headrest of my seat. Thank goodness I was wearing sunglasses! I’m pretty sure my eyes would not have liked the feeling of wipe juice in them. That was hazard number one.
Hazard number two: I shoved the extra wipes back down into the container and as I was pulling my finger back out of the lid, ouch! Totally scratched my finger on the side of that darn little platic cross thing in the lid. I mean OUCH! So then here I am, bleeding finger trying to find the bandaids for myself. Atleast I knew my finger was clean.
My finger is all fine now, it was just a little scrape, although it’s in a very precarious spot, but I’ll survive. Thanks for the concern. 🙂
There are other physical hazards to being a Mother too. The kicks in the shins from the kids sitting on my lap with their boots on, the stepping on my feet (especially in summer when I’m wearing flip flops), the accidental elbows to the stomach or the head bonks as we both lean down to pick something up at the same time. But I have to admit, by far the best hazard, the one that just does not stop occuring, would have to be this: my heart just keeps on growing, and I’m sure those laugh lines and smile wrinkles are now permanent!
I wouldn’t trade a thing for all the experiences I get to share with my boys. No amount of cuts and scrapes, bruises and bumps can ever be too much when it means I get to love and laugh with them every day. Yes, the BEST hazard of motherhood is an enlarged capacity to love and be happy. Best hazard, best reward, best thing EVER!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I hope you all have many blessing to be thankful for. I know I do…