(Reluctantly) Taking One For The Team
OK, so I’ve got a Bad Mommy
confession to make.
Actually, not a Bad Mommy confession as much as a Bad Owner
confession.
You know how my daughter simply LOVES Kitty? Can’t get enough
of her? And Kitty, while in some way flattered, can only take
Maddie in small doses?
I’ve been feeling rundown and tired with seasonal allergies,
and Maddie with her new “Up!” command was really
wearing me down. I couldn’t get the dishwasher emptied, lunch
cleaned up, dinner started, anything. She was in a real
“Mommy! Attention!” mode.
I needed a break, ok? Anywhere I could get it.
As I was fervently praying for a miracle
babysitter to arrive, Kitty comes sauntering out of her hiding
place in my bedroom. Maddie’s eyes lit up and she ran,
screaming, at Kitty. With Maddie between Kitty’s furry body
and her bedroom refuge, Kitty dove for relative cover under the
dining table.
And an insanely selfish plan was hatched in my head.
Surreptitiously sneaking down the hall towards the bedrooms, I
swiftly shut all the doors – even the bathroom – thus
forcing Kitty to stay out in public space.
Madeleine spent a bliss-filled twenty minutes alternately pacing
around the dining table, getting suckered into crawling underneath
it, then laboriously crawling back out to chase Kitty down as Kitty
scrabbled vainly for shelter. Finding none, Kitty returned to the
dubious sanctity of the table legs and the whole thing started over
again.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
Mommy, meanwhile, spent a bliss-filled twenty minutes flying
through the kitchen, getting more done than anyone except another
mommy could imagine, thanks to my reluctant babysitter. By the time
I got a bit ahead on my chore list, Maddie looked pooped and ready
to sit down with a quiet book. I rescued a haunted Kitty and
carried her down the hall back to her hiding room, whispering the
whole way:
“Thank you. I’m sorry. Thank you. I’m sorry.
Thank you. I’m sorry.”
Ah, the two sides of the Mommy coin – ruthlessness and
guilt.
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