Tuesday, May 06, 2008

And yet another reason why I'm not fit to be a parent



Ever have those moments, the ones where you realize you are not fit to be a parent and wonder who the heck thought you were and gave you children? Yeah I've had a few of those recently. I'd like to blame them on the madness of the past few months. You know car fires, lingering illness, 45+ realtor's showing your home during lunch time, nap time, dinner time and every-time in-between. Yes I did say 45 realtors in five weeks, madness. What moment to start with first is the question. Not long ago I woke up to find my son on top of the kitchen counter eating a jar full of gummy vitamins. So let's just get out your obvious questions. No I did not sleep in, trevor is just a very early riser and quiet when he's getting into medicine, yes I did have child locks on the cabinet but apparently failed and no the cap wasn't tight all the way like it should be. This is how I started my conversation with the man at poison control. After I gave him my fake name and address...

Two weeks ago I have the house all cleaned for realtor's & care group, I get the two confused these days, in efforts to preserve the prettiness I send the kids out front to ride their bikes. It was a nice night so I brought out my camera and got a few shots. Well apparently I missed the shot of Rylee sticking her hand in cactus. A jumping cholla to be exact. She came over to me with a hundred little cacti hairs in her hand. Really I never knew my neighbor two doors down had cactus! Information that would've been useful "YESTERDAY!" It was a long (care group) night of pulling little bitty hairs out of her hands. I did learn that baking soda & warm water go a long way, as well as duct tape.

The kicker "you have no business being a parent moment" came two days ago. It was monday morning, 7:30 am to be exact, I was up three times with trev that night, broken up two many fights between him & taylor and disciplined enough tantrums to last the entire day. Oh and I hadn't had my coffee yet. Excuses I know. Chris is sick in bed with a fever and it's time to take Tay to school. I begin to leave and trev throws another tantrum because he wants a popsicle. Taking the easy route I say here's you're popsicle, sit at the table and I turned on a show. Assuming he understood what was happening I put Taylor in the car and left. You know what they say happens when you assume? Well the door closes, Trev freaks out, opens the door and runs after the car. Thankfully my neighbor was out jogging and sees trev running in the middle of the street screaming. She picks him up and he screams and hits her saying, " my mommy left me!!" She asks him where his daddy is and he says "gone at work". She goes over to our other neighbors house who knows us well (hopefully well enough to know I wouldn't leave my child all alone) and she calls my cell & Chris' cell... at this point I'm pulling back into the driveway. I return to one neighbor in her jogging suit and the other in her robe, holding my crying son. Trevor looks at me with his alligator tears and says "why did you leave me mommy?" I'm trying to talk to him while at the same time explain myself to my neighbor's, you know that kid voice but you're really talking to be heard by adults, "Mommy didn't leave you alone Trevor, mommy would NEVER leave you all alone! Daddy is home in bed... what happened to the clear direction of eat your popsicle, watch this show I gave you?" "Silly boy" as I grab him and run inside. I go wake Chris up with "It's time to start packing our bags honey before someone turns me in!"

11 comments:

CarrieLovesKeith said...

"After I gave him my fake name and address..." LOL! Genius. That is also information that would have been helpful YESTERDAY when I called them after catching my kids drinking the ink out of their markers!!! Oh, I am SO glad I am not the only one! :~) And why IS it that those poison control people ask you for your name and address?! From now on my name is "Regina Filangie" and I live in Glendale! :~)

The Martins said...

Oh. My. Word. That was SO hilarious. I'm sorry to be laughing so very hard at your expense, but that was quite enjoyable.

Tara said...

laugh away sara :-)

Carrie I'm calling you Regina from now on!

Anonymous said...

Carrie laughs, but it was her name that you gave him!

;)
Emily Baker

Tara said...

nice Emily... next time I'm carrie & cj... great idea!

CarrieLovesKeith said...

Go ahead and try... I've called so many times, I think they know me by the sound of my voice! They won't believe you for a second! ;~)

Spirit of Adoption said...

hilarious! I know it wasn't at the time, but I love the way your write about it : )

Anonymous said...

Tara You too have put your hand in Cactus (when you were 4) and we left your brother behind without knowing it.(where is Ryan honey...I thought you had him!!!) But look how well you turned out. God is in control

Dad

Anonymous said...

I'm Deborah Geesling's sister, Dawn. She forwarded me this. It is just what I needed! I have had many similar incidents/days like this, some recently (the millions of cactus prickers I pulled out of my son's fingertips with tweezers in March while visiting). I'm surprised I haven't been "turned in" yet! Thanks for sharing this--we are NOT alone as moms, praise God!!!

Tara said...

nice to meet you dawn!!

Yes it is God's grace alone that keeps our children ok & alive :-)

ginny said...

hey, tara...i was just browsing and came across this post (i saw your blog site on twitter)..oh, my goodness. thank you for your candor! i have had more of those moments than i can count, and i know that there is a HUGE MASSIVE ARMY of angels surrounding my little ones, otherwise they would not have survived to this point :) blessings to you in your mommyhood...may you never forget the sweetness of the journey!

gin s