Mothering: In a Day

The highs and lows of mothering—all in one day.

7:00 a.m.—Meredith stayed dry all night! Miracle of miracles! We decided to go cold turkey and put her in bed without a pull-up. (I'm tired of buying pull-ups. Do you know how expensive they are?) This was only the second night of doing that. Kevin says I should not have high hopes because it might not be consistent. But I don’t see any reason not to celebrate?! I was so happy I told her she could have soda pop at lunch.

11:00 a.m.—I went down the Yule Slide at the children’s museum with Clara. She chuckled the whole way down and when we got to the end she let out a huge belly laugh. Priceless. Totally worth the price of admission just for that! We stood in line and did it four times.

2:00 p.m.—We hit the “samples” jack-pot at Costco. Every aisle had a sample of something, which the kids loved. Then when I refused to give Clara a sample of sparkling grape juice, but her sister got one, she screamed and had the most embarrassing tantrum ever, which lasted about a minute but felt like an hour. That’s what I get for taking her shopping at the height of nap time.

3:30 p.m.—In the car on the way home, Meredith tells me, “I just can’t wait until I’m a mommy.” I asked her, “Why do you want to be a mommy?” She said, “’Cuz I want to be just like you.” Now that pretty much made my year, if not my life. It’s nice she thinks that at age three. Hopefully she’ll think it at 13.

And the day’s not even over yet …