Skip to main content

I'll take the EXPRESS PASS please!




"Mommy? Can you take a detour?"
"Wow!  Detour!  Do you even know what that word means sweetie?"
"Yes.  It means to take another way home." Lola replies.

Unbelievable.  This is my 4 year old ladies and gentlemen.  I don't wanna brag....but......

"Okay, sure sweetie!  Let's go this way!"
"What??  Why???" she asks in a panic.

"Umm....because you wanted to do a detour?  So we'll just turn this way to get home instead of going straight."
"NO!!!  I don't want to go that wayyyyyyy!!!!!!!  Go straight!!" she yells from the back of the van.
"But....you....."

I stop myself.  There's no point!

"Mommy?"
(sigh) "....yes sweetie?"
"What's a detour?"

Oh dear Lord, save me.

And it's not just the 4 year old that challenges me.

The other day my 18 month old is standing screaming at the fridge.
"Teeezzzz, teeezzzz!!" she yells.
"You want CHEESE?"
"Yeah!" she answers quickly, huge smile on her face.
"Say please!"  I say
"Peeez"

I open the fridge, pull out a cheese-string and start peeling back the wrapper.
Molly starts screaming at the top of her lungs.

"You DON'T want me to open it??"  I ask her.
"NOOOOOOO!!"

Oh brother.

"Okay. Relax honey.  Here you go."
I hand her the cheestring.  She takes it, looks at it, and throws herself to the floor.
"OPE!!!! OPE!!!!!".  She then throws the cheestring on the floor.
"You DO want me to open it?"
"Yeahhhhhhhh"  she says while sobbing.
I pick up the cheestring.  Open it up and hand it to her.
With the biggest smile, and tears still running down her face, she says, "Da-du Mommeeee!"

Sigh. Deep breath.

"You're welcome angel".


Raising children is like an episode of the Amazing Race. 
I always feel like I'm racing somewhere.......but I'm constantly getting hit with "detours", "eliminations", "sobbing and over-tired contestants", "U-turns" and a host that is constantly in my ear telling me what to do and where I went wrong!

"Today, on the Amazing Race, Mommy and her 2 little girls must get to the Early Years Center before 9am.  If they don't get there on time.....they MAY get eliminated.  Stay tuned!"

Or.....

"Today, Mommy left her library card at home.  Will the library let her take out Lola's books, or will she have to go back and find her card before proceeding to the next leg of the race?  Stay tuned!"

Pan to Mommy balling in the library lobby.......
"I just don't understand!!!!!  The cards were in the van!!"
And now pan to library card on the front porch of the house.  Cue dramatic music.
And finally, pan to Phil at the pit stop, "I'm sorry to tell you Mommy, but ........." (long pause)  "you HAVE been eliminated from the race".


The emotional roller-coaster is worse than riding the Leviathan at Canada's Wonderland.  One minute you're up ..."I love you Mommy!  You're the BEST!", the next minute you're down "NOOO!!!  I DON'T WANT A BATH!!  YOU CAN'T CATCH ME!!"  and you're chasing them down the hall.

I guess the best way to raise kids is to just expect the unexpected......and not let it get to you....which is a feat unto itself.  Some days will be easy, some days will be super hard......

"Mommy?"
"Yes sweetie?"
"I just wanted to say how pretty you look today".


(gulp!!)


.....and some days..... you're just sittin' pretty :)






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Remember when you used to blog?

"Remember when you used to blog?  Those were the days....." This is what a dear old friend recently wrote to me on Facebook.   I was shocked.  Shocked that this person who I respected and liked so much even read my blog, or even knew that I had one.  And incredibly humbled and honoured that he took the time to send me that simple little line. I stared at the computer and re-read his words over and over again.  His comment had sent a wave of emotions running through me. And I'm sure he had no idea, but he had said exactly what I had been feeling for the past year and a half.   I must have re-read that sentence 20 or even 30 times.  And when I finally felt l like I had tortured myself enough,  I closed my eyes, took a deep  breath, lifted my head, put my hands on my keyboard.........and starting writing.   Again. -------------------------------------------------------------- Writing had always been a source of healing for ...

A time of peace.

It was 8 years ago that my Dad passed away from cancer. I'll never forget the day that he left us.  December 14th, 2006. After months and months of pain and suffering, it was inevitable that my Dad was not going to survive this horrible disease.  Not only had the cancer taken away his energy, his muscle tone and his strength....but it had taken away something worse.  His spirit.   His last week was spent in the palliative care ward in the hospital and there wasn't a moment that he was left alone.   In the last few days of his life I had grown numb.  I knew what was happening and I didn't really want to face it, so I had blocked off my own emotions in order to look strong and happy whenever my Dad laid his eyes on me. We had slept in my Dad's hospital room almost every night for that last week.  We made beds by putting the lounge chairs together.  Our discomfort was nothing in comparison to what my father had been going thro...

The Platinum Monster.

Some women will agree that how good you look equals how good you feel.   And alternatively, others may think that how good you feel equals how good you look. But I believe that we all would agree on 2 simple facts.  That every woman wants to look good .....and every woman wants to feel good. For me there comes a certain confidence when I look good.  When I'm all dressed up, makeup applied flawlessly, jewellery worn perfectly, and red lipstick painted on JUST RIGHT.  Those are the moments in which I shine.   Now let's stop for a brief second and compare to those moments when I definitely do NOT shine.   1) The moments when I first wake up and look like a cross between Mickey Rourke and Blanche from the Golden Girls. 2)  The days at the cottage when my face has not seen makeup for an eternity and I realize how far apart my eyebrows are in comparison to how close together my eyeballs are  :/ 3)  And last but not least, those...