Still losing

This week I slipped back a few more places in the Mom of the Year contest. Let’s see, how was I instrumental in making my children suffer?

On Saturday I slammed Max’s hand in the mini-van door when I was carting all the kids to the apple orchard. He screamed for a very long time, then just made me hold him during almost the entire apple picking adventure. He woke up from his nap screaming even more and holding onto his swollen hand. After some painkillers and a lot tears, he finally calmed down, and used his hand with ease. Doctor Daddy decided an x-ray wasn’t necessary, but he informed me that if Max did not turn out to be a surgeon, it will be my fault. ( I told him that if Max did not turn out to be a surgeon, it won’t be as a result of his hand not working properly).

Last night Ella was incredibly tired, and when I laid her down for the night, she quietly turned over to go to sleep. About 15 minutes later, as Cameron was reading Max and I a book (well, he was actually reading me the book as Max was on the top bunk tossing animals down onto our heads), Ella started crying. Because I was incredibly exhausted yesterday and wanted to just veg out in front of Grey’s Anatomy, I ignored her cries. Eventually she fell back to sleep. It wasn’t until midnight, as I had just fallen into a pleasant Vicatin induced sleep (I did a 3 ½ hour run and need the pain meds), Ella woke up again. After a few minutes of crying, I reluctantly went into her room to check on her. As I picked her up, I noticed that she smelled like vomit. I then checked her crib and saw some very wet sheets that also smelled of vomit, and some little chunks on the carpet. The vomit was cold, which was an indication that she was probably crying when Cameron was reading to me because she threw up. And I just ignored her.

Cameron’s picture day was yesterday. I knew this, and even had him take a shower in the morning. After his shower I found him brushing his hair.
“WHAT are you doing?” I asked him, as he was making circular motions with his dad’s brush.
“My teacher said we had to brush our hair to look nice for the pictures.”
“Cameron, you know you don’t have the kind of hair that you brush!” I responded, trying to wet down the frizz he had created.
“But my teacher said we had to!” he said adamantly, completely ignoring my command to stop, as he tried to create a mohawk with his short do.
“Cameron, you are NOT going to try to have a Mohawk in your Kindergarten pictures! And do NOT use your shirt as a tissue. I don’t want to see wet snot stains in your Kindergarten pictures! And be careful when you brush your teeth. I don’t want to see toothpaste marks in your Kindergarten pictures!” The rest of the morning I was continually instructing him to do or not to do particular things so that he will end up with a nice Kindergarten picture.
Whether he followed all of my commands or not…well, it doesn’t really matter. Because until today, I didn’t even realize that in my preparing him for his picture, I completely forgot to do my part by filling out the picture order form with a check attached. So now my only hope is they’ll let him try again on Re-take day. Can you actually get a retake when you never ordered an original?

I may not win the #1 Mom contest due to my maternal skills, but I might be able to get some votes with candy and new toys.