So, naturally, the day after I posted my heartfelt and sincere Mothers' Day post, my own mettle as a mother was tested. I was enjoying a Sunday snooze (it's the only day I feel justified in napping, so I do it very purposefully. All children are resolutely ignored, whether I'm asleep or not...), Joseph was gone home teaching, and then my three year old struck. No, he didn't strike me (though that has woken me from a Sunday nap in the past, and not to anyones' benefit!). J-boy found the paint roller (full of white paint and carefully wrapped in a plastic bag because I'm too lazy to wash it out between coats) in the baby's room. This room has been off limits for over a week - I'm painting a bookshelf and changing table in there. So, of course, while my defenses were down, he painted the floor, the vacuum, the changing table (this might sound helpful, but it wasn't), his Sunday pants, and himself. I woke up (probably at the beginning of the fiasco), was suspicious of the silence, and sent K up to check on him. So she joined in the fun! Then she came downstairs, told me J-boy was taking a nap and I shouldn't go up there till he was awake. Oh, the treachery!
It's taken me nearly a whole week to look on the situation with any humor... I had an errant thought in the back of my mind (as I was dragging/flinging my son up the stairs by one arm) that my mother-in-law would take pictures to laugh about later. I guess the camera just wasn't handy enough for me. I don't know if I've ever been that furious! I was on the brink of self control. Joseph came home in the middle of the inevitable tirade (you know, the episode where I lecture/yell at the kids for 15 minutes -- they stand in stunned silence and I 'clean up' with such a vengeance it borders on violence). He was locked out, but upon hearing my voice was too afraid to call for help, so he picked the lock and rescued the children with a time out!
I considered myself a basically non-violent person. I laughingly tell friends that I hardly even had a temper before I got married. But I seem to be digressing instead of progressing in that aspect of my personality....
So I ask... can I blame this one on the pregnancy??
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11 comments:
Oh yes!! I would have done the same thing, and then felt somewhat guilty later. That would have made me furious even whithout child. You are not on your own in the parenting woes. It is certainly not for wimps. Laugh about it in 6 months, as for now, make your children help you clean it up. I am so sorry. It is so frustrating, because now you feel like you cant ever take naps.(much needed naps)
Whew! I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who feels like I loose complete control sometimes!!! I have had so much more of a temper since I've been married and had kids! And, of course, it just gets worse when you're pregnant! I would've TOTALLY FLIPPED OUT if that happened to me! I have no idea how to get paint out of carpet! Maybe you can get a really cute rug for the baby's room! :) I don't think I could laugh about that until I moved out of that house!
Oh, Tara! I'm enough years removed from this that I find it hilarious! I'm remembering a time I was painting a downstairs bedroom while you and David were both napping, had the can of paint on a board between two sawhorses. I was so absorbed in my task I didn't hear David come into the room, so he went ahead and pulled one of the sawhorses out from under the board -- paint everywhere! Funny how it wasn't so funny at the time..... Whatever you do, don't feel guilty! You all lived to tell about it, right? Thanks for sharing!
You had me laughing , a sympathetic laugh, because I know exactly what you mean! With my third pregnancy I was always sooo tired. I always had to take naps and try to entertain the others while I did, I had many incidences napping or not, like a messy diaper taken off and smeared all over a crib, carpet and self etc.... so gross (sorry) or the time I was getting lunch and the two youngest colored the bathroom walls and door and themselves in a blue marker that won't come off! and it took like 5 coats of primer to get it to mostly disapear... I could really go on. I really don't leave my kids alone because they are very quick and sneaky and love to touch things they shouldn't. (you can't always be right there with them all of the time either) especially my 3 year old Alyssa. Hmmm the same age. but, I have also noticed that my patience has degressed a lot since having kids. It makes me a little sad because I used to be the most patient person.
It doesn't make us horrible mom's we are just human. It happens to the best of us.
Sorry I wrote a novel, but I really know how you feel. What a chore to clean up! It is kind of funny though.
You can blame everything on raging hormones, right? Even if you're not pregnant?? ;)
Too bad you didn't get a picture! It's good to hear and remember that my kids aren't the only naughty ones. I feel so bad for you! I would've reacted the same way or worse!
I'm glad that this whole scenario is still at least a few months away from me! I can laugh now, but I'm sure I'll experience some catastrophe like this - given the fact that he's Ryan's kid! Gary & Cynthia once came home to find the baby-sitter tied up!! Oh my goodness ... :) Love you!!
Blame it on Joseph and the gene pool! Stephanie
Oh Tara, I can't even imagine the mess! I'm so sorry. I wish we were closer to help clean everything.
Hope you and my little niece are doing well after all.
You know, that really was a big mess. Don't feel bad if you're never able to laugh about it! I blow up at my kids for a lot less...but pregnancy certainly has made my fuse shorter than normal. I figure that I'm already dealing with so much physical and emotional strain that sometimes the kids just have to do something little and I can't take it any longer. But, like always, I just try to do better next time. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't.
Tara,
I really enjoyed this post. Maybe because it makes me feel better, maybe b/c it made me laugh?? (Sorry) thoroughly connect to the way you feel/felt. I don't think I was possible of the tone of voice I sometimes now have, before I had children (who I really do dearly love and cherish). I have had moments like yours though. And I have to say-that sometimes, I remember to get the camera, other times, I have no desire to do so, and others are where I do not even think about it, b/c of the torrent of raging? (I hate to say that) emotions I am trying to suppress. :) Anyway, thanks for sharing and try to smile. :)
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