encouragement as a mother, and I'm hoping that it might encourage other moms as well.
First, let's backtrack.
How did my week start?
Well, I woke up one morning to the sounds of my child. It wasn't really a cry....more of like a frustrated moan. So I got out of bed to see what was going on. When I walked into his room, I saw him standing there, arms raised, ready to get out of his bed. He looked ok. He wasn't hurt and he started to smile at me as I came in closer. So I thought -ok, he's fine, probably just wanted to wake me up so we could get our day started, no big deal.
As I got in closer and wrapped my hands around him to pick him up, I noticed something odd. I could see more flesh color below his shirt than I normally see. I slowly raised it. That's when I noticed the diaper sitting over in the right side of his bed. You know, the one he took off of his body.
The first thing that ran through my mind were the words DON'T PANIC. But of course, the next few things to run through it were - how long has this been off? did he pee anywhere? I'm washing all these sheets just in case. why did he take this off ? am I stepping in anything? check the floor, check the floor!!
And that's when I turned around and saw it. Yep... IT. He had gotten tired of it being in his diaper I guess, taken his diaper off, and thrown IT on the floor. You know that music that plays in a horror movie right when the main star sees something terrifying? That music played in my head. Yep. This really just happened to me. I'd be lying if I said I didn't take a deep breath, cringe, and slowly look up at the ceiling ... just in case.
And if that's not enough to throw off your week, there's more.
Like the meltdown we had after .. of all things ... taking his toothbrush away. I thought kids didn't even like to brush their teeth! My child can't get enough. He wants to walk around with his toothbrush. He wants to talk to his toothbrush. I'm excited that he loves doing it so much at such a young age, but I'm not too excited about the tantrum he throws when I decide it's time to put it away. Kicking. Screaming. Crying. Hyperventilating. The works.
Then I find out that my son is a hoarder. Yep. You read that right. I pull out the couch to mop underneath and I find a plethora of items he has hidden under there. They include: 6 blocks, 1 sock, 4 goldfish, 2 empty water bottles, 3 assorted balls, 1 I Love Lucy DVD (out of the case), a comb, 2 foam letters, 3 books, and a zebra. You'd think we have a huge couch. But no, it's the usual size. You'd think I haven't mopped in a year. But nope, hasn't been that long ago. How my kid gets everything under there, I'm not really sure.
After that day, I needed to return a pair of shoes that I bought for a wedding that I ended up not needing. Unfortunately for me, the stroller was in my husband's car. It will be fine, I thought, I will just get one of those kid cars at the front of the mall, take care of what I need to and we'll be headed out.
So there I go, into the mall carrying my 30 lb child, a box of shoes, and my huge diaper bag. Only to find out that I went in on the complete opposite side of the kid cars. So I make my way over there, now sweating profusely and out of breath to see that it costs 5 dollars to rent one of those things. Are they crazy!?! But there was no way I could get this done with a child in my arms, or running around on his own. No way. So I get out my wallet. Nope. No cash. Of course not. I make my way back over to the side of the mall with the ATM machine and withdrawal some money. By this time, my child wants anything but to be in my arms and is squirming like crazy while I'm fumbling these other items in my hands. Did I mention I'm sweating? From this point, my experience was bound to be awful, so I picked my lowest option of withdrawal, $20, and headed to a few of the kiosks to see who had change. After about 10 minutes of that headache, I made it over to the cookie cake place and bought an Icee so that I could get a five dollar bill. It was a small victory to pop that five dollars in that machine and get my car. At first, I couldn't believe those things were $5. By that time, I would have paid a fortune for one.
And that leads us to Sunday. The day that challenges me at motherhood beyond anything else I have experienced. You see, I tell all of these funny stories about my child throwing fits and well, throwing other gross things, for entertainment purposes on my blog .... but that's only about 5% of the time. The other 95%, he's the happiest, sweetest, most friendly, lovable, adorable kid I've ever known. He's strong, he's kind, he's amazing. It's just that he's still a baby, and he's a BOY and he's not around other children a lot. So when we go to church services, he thinks it's time to play. Yesterday morning, I thought we were READY. I mean, you would think that about 3 books with 100 pages each, some crayons, a bucket of goldfish (ok, so maybe not a bucket .... that's an exaggeration. More like a barrel), a bag full of toys, and half of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich would be enough to keep your child still and quiet for a few minutes right? Well, once again I spent Sunday in the nursery *surprise* talking my son out of running into walls, reaching in the trash can, and getting in the faces of the other children just to say "hi!". It felt like a disaster. It's always the day when I need the most encouragement, and the day I'm hardest on myself as a mom.
That brings me back to what I saw that encouraged me. It's exactly what I needed. I found it on a website called In the Mom Light that I stumbled upon when looking for something else. I'm so glad I did.
I'm looking forward to seeing what adventures next week holds!
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