It's good to be alive. Of course, it helps that the kids are still sleeping and no one is standing at my elbow saying, "MOMMY!" every 3 minutes. Because that's what my Rachel does. She doesn't say, "Hey, Mommy, can we have a snack?" or "Mommy, I want to play outside." No. She says, "MOMMY!" and stops.
"Yes, honey?"
"MOMMY!"
[Why the heck does she keep stopping at that? Why doesn't she continue?]
"What is it, Rachel?"
"MOMMY! Can we have a snack?"
If this doesn't sound annoying, I'm not typing it right. All I know is, every time I hear "MOMMY!" uttered in this tone that's a cross between someone's-bleeding urgency and someone jumping out of a closet to yell "BOO!", my insides seize up; and it's all I can do not to yell, "Just say it! Say what you want! YOU HAVE MY ATTENTION!"
Patience is not my strong point.
[Happy sun image: Free Extras]
My Sean did this. Still does it. He says Mom and then stops like he's got to think about what he's going to say next and I was always irritated by it until he was being evaluated for verbal processing or something like that and the VT told me that it was the way his brain worked. Some kind of processing thing. . . . So now I find I do have a little more patience with it.
ReplyDeleteThat would make me nuts.
ReplyDeleteBut HOORAY for the respite! Incredible how the right weather can reset your frame of mind.
Yesterday was the last day with the kids. I'm going to go for two whole months without any child calling me Miss Stewart, asking, "Can I go to the bathroom?" or telling me to "wait." I loved this group, but they were always telling me to wait. I finally started saying, "This is what waiting looks like..."
ReplyDelete;)
My 4-yr-old grandson (who is living with us right now) does the same thing. Only his response is "I wuv you". Now how can I get irritated at that? Actually, after the 20th time, it's not so hard...
ReplyDeleteMy [childless by choice] BFF sent me a sign to hang in my kitchen when my kids were that age:
ReplyDelete"Raising children is like being pecked to death by a chicken." She said she had to send it because there were 2 mothers looking at it, too, and laughing hysterically.
"Mom" "Mom" "Mom" "Mom" "Mom" "Mom" "Mom"
Oy!!!
Loving this weather, though. I was actually COLD this morning when I hung the flag out for Flag Day.
My son just asked me the other night, at a large gathering, "How do you know the 'Mom!' is for you when there are so many other moms here?"
ReplyDeleteI just do.
http://www.hulu.com/watch/25105/family-guy-lois-mom-mum-mommy
ReplyDeleteAnnoying it is...even more annoying when it is a 20 year old who knows he is going to tick you off just by saying it.
ReplyDeleteI'm just saying.
Off subject but I loved your response on Morherlode. It was a perfect voice of reason... maybe you should have written the essay!
ReplyDeleteDenise
My mom once told us she had changed her name and was not going to tell us what the new one was. ;)
ReplyDeleteI like the T-shirt a friend has that states "Motherhood is a calling." It has several children on it saying "Mom, Mommy, Mother, Mom"
*So* do not miss those days. Love my kids; they're great people. But the constant "momming" just about drove me around the bend. And the fingers wiggling under the bathroom door.
ReplyDeleteHave you tried just turning and saying RACHEL! back to her in the same tone? Then it becomes a test of wills.
ReplyDeleteTwo thoughts: Patience is over-rated(!) and once I was in the cereal aisle in the grocery store, WITHOUT MY CHILDREN, when a loud and worried voice in the next aisle yelled out "Mommy!" in that tone that suggests imminent death or at least a lot of blood, and 4 mothers looked around for their child. None of us had our children with us, but we were so conditioned that the tone of voice alone was enough to get our attention!
ReplyDelete