watch your mouth

There are things that I say that come back to haunt me-- the slipped 'Dammit!' that has plagued me with 2 out of my 3 children so far. (Don't worry, I'm thinking it's safe to say that I will be 3 for 3 once Pudge goes beyond his favorite words of "NO!" and "Move!") But sometimes it's funnier when the more innocuous things get said back by the little ones. I have a little habit of saying "Oh, it's so hard to be <insert whining child's name here>" when the woe-is-me factor skyrockets. Well, our little Red sure seems to have taken to this phrase. Last night I was giving Red and Pudge a bath, which I have to admit just makes me grumpy (its usually lovely hubby's job, but he was having a literal pain in the neck, so I took it on). Well, I was feeling really frustrated about saying things over and over in a nice way and being met with no obedient children in sight for what felt like the entire weekend. In the moment, it was a dual-splashing thing that wasn't that big of a deal, but I was telling them to stop and trying to get them involved in other non-getting-Mommy-soaked activities, to no avail. So, what's a mom left to do... I yelled, "STOP SPLASHING!" and lo and behold, the water stopped flying.

Lovely hubby walked in at that point, and in my self-pitying whine, I lamented, "Why is it that no one listens to me unless I yell?!" And, to up the drama factor a few more notches, I laid my head down on the edge of the tub for a moment. It was then that insightful little Red piped up.

"Is it hard to be Mommy?"

Awesome. Perfect timing, priceless delivery. I think the sarcasm factor went right over her head and she was shooting straight from the hip with sincere empathy. I'm an awful mom, but somehow these kids are turning out alright.

Apparently, as lovely hubby was snuggling with her in their pre-bedtime routine a little while later, she wanted a little empathy for herself as well. The poor girl has been nursing a cold for what seems like 5 years, and just when we thought she was getting better, the faucet nose and TB ward cough came back with a vengeance. So, as she was hacking away and dripping like crazy in her bed, she turned to her loving father and said, "It's hard to be Red." (Of course, she wouldn't refer to herself with our bloggy name for her, but you get the picture, I'm sure...) She never ceases to crack us up.

Still waiting for my title as Mom of the Year,