Bad Mom Moment

I’m a terrible mother. 

I really am.

Not always.  I can pull off some amazing mommy moments when teaching my girls, like making up the notecard game to help Kirstin learn some first words, or teaching Emily how to say, “I love you” after giving hugs.  Those are fun times.

But then there are the times when I’m tired, cranky, and putting up with whiny, cranky kids.  Then I tend to get more sarcastic and mean.  I also make assumptions that can hurt others.

So what happened?

I told Kirstin I flushed Mongo the cat down the toilet.

It all started with getting ready to go to the parade in town.  I had the girls ready, and I took a second to go to the bathroom.  We tend to keep an open door policy with the bathroom.  I think of it as modeling good behavior for the girls.  Really, it’s just a lack of modesty and laziness.  I was just turning to flush the toilet and the shower curtain moved outward. 

It startled me, especially as part of the curtain took the shape of a big cat paw.  I knew what was going on, but was startled, none-the-less.  So I yelled,

“Holy crap!”

Matt laughed and said I didn’t know Mongo was between the curtains.  Obviously I didn’t because otherwise I wouldn’t have yelled.

Kirstin heard the name, Mongo, and assumed he was in the toilet for whatever reason.  She didn’t see what was happening and put two and two together and got five, I guess.

So, the inevitable question came.

“Did you just flush Mongo down the toilet?”

The night before we’d gone to see fireworks at the Traverse County fair, and wound up visiting with Matt’s Aunt, Uncle, and cousins (that’s a fun story too).  We didn’t get home till after midnight.  Now, me, being tired from getting home so late the night before coupled with an odd inability to sleep after that, answered in my usual sarcastic way when I feel like that:

“Yes, Kirstin, I did flush Mongo down the toilet.”

I figured she knew that Mongo wouldn’t fit down the toilet, and that he would probably not like being in the toilet in the first place and just jump out.  I was completely and horribly wrong.

Cue tears and sobbing.

She thought she lost a beloved pet, again.  She wouldn’t stop even after I procured Mongo from the shower curtain and brought him out for her to pet.  She didn’t even really stop after I held her and rocked her.  All the while apologizing and telling her it was a joke and I shouldn’t joke like that with her because she takes things so seriously.  She didn’t stop crying till her dad gave her a hug and told her we’d better get to the parade or she’d miss out on all the candy.  Then it was like nothing happened and she was all smiles and antics again. 

By the way, the parade was fun as usual.  Kirstin was the only kid in our section so she got a TON of candy.  Of course, no kid needs that much candy, so to save her teeth I decided to take one for the team and eat some, too.  I mean, if it saves a child some trouble, it must be okay, right?