6.02.2009

I. Never. Learn.

As a stay at home mom, I know it is my duty to the 'club' to be all ooshey-gooshy about my kids and how much I love staying home with them. And I do. Mostly. Lately? Not so much. I bow down to single mothers everywhere. I don't know how they do it. I am two months into it and about EAT my children. (Not in a cute nom! nom! way, either. More like some vicious jungle creature with pointy teeth. And sharp claws. You get the picture.)

I have gotten to the point where I go from zero to nuclear in about 30 seconds - about the time it takes for Z to refuse to follow my directions/talk back disrespectfully twice. I managed to stop myself mid-bark this morning realizing that I was letting myself get manipulated by a four-year-old. No need to provide her with a floor show! After a stint in juvie her room, she was much calmer. Thank goodness.

Z's friend, KK, came over this afternoon and they couldn't have played more nicely together. When her mom came to get her, we decided to throw the kids into the cars and head for the movies. Q is a total movie hound, so I figured he would be fine. We went to see Pixar's latest: Up. I was super excited to see it, so I guess I should have taken that as a bad omen.

It was really cute. Well, for the first hour and a half, anyway. After that, Q decided that he wanted to go play on the Batman car-shaped video game in the lobby. And told us at decibels that could probably be heard from space. When he finally figured out that we weren't going to go to the lobby, he decided that he would go back to the movie. But not ours. Rather than ruin the movie-going-experience for two (possibly more) theaters, I hauled him out to the car while he screamed like I was stabbing him.

I managed to get him strapped into his car seat in spite of Q bucking like a bronco and wailing like a banshee. I turned on the AC an closed the door. I had taken all that I could. I waited out the rest of the movie standing next to my car, sheepishly collecting Z from KK's mom when they emerged from the theater.

By the time I got Z in the car, Q was passed out. But he was doing that little post-crying-hiccup thing in his sleep. So then, of course, I feel like the worst mom ever for taking him to the movies in the first place. During nap time. Duh.

I have actually been giving some serious thought to asking my shrink to up my meds until this whole moving thing is over. The stress can't be good for me - and it really isn't doing my kids any favors.

Two more weeks. We will be moving to New Town in two more weeks. Thank goodness. I can do anything for two weeks, right? I can't wait to be married again (reunited with my hubs for longer than a weekend)! Clearly I am not cut out for single parenting.

5 comments:

  1. Aww, I'm sure we've all done that. I don't remember the specifics anymore, but I know that when my son was a toddler, there were times when we'd take him out and it would interfere with his naptime. It was hard with both of us, never mind one parent!

    Hope the move goes well. :)

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  2. The hubs and I did an 8 months stint which almost killed us all. NEVER again! I know exactly how you feel. Wish I was closer and I would offer you alcohol and chocolate therapy!

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  3. That was funny... in a carnivorous sort of way! But I get it... and sometimes its just not a peak experience. Sometimes its just hard

    tracy

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  4. Trust me, we have ALL been there! I once carried my kicking and screaming two year old out of a library through a parking lot to our car where she promptly threw up because she was crying so hard.

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  5. Rae Ann,

    I can feel your pain. I gave up my career to stay home and often wonder how the hell I got here. City girl stuck in the country with two ingrates. What hubs doesn't get is that it NEVER ends. Being on duty never ends. The build-up of noise pollution and stress reaches a level that reduces your tolerance to about 30 seconds. I have had one too many of the broncin'-buck-car seat-rejecting-stabbing-pain- scream scenes with my son. That's why God made girlfriends and wine and blogs. What would we do without them?

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