This morning was definitely one of those mornings. You know, the kind where tears are shed before you even get out the door? Oh yeah, that was us today. And the tears weren’t even just from the kids.
Nothing horrible happened, it was just a collection of little things… I got up late, which never helps, Kate hadn’t picked out her outfit last night so it took a while to figure out what she was going to wear. The big meltdown, though, came when I tied Kate’s shoes wrong. The loops were too big, which is apparently a very. big. deal. So I re-tied them and then went back to finish getting myself ready. When I came back out to where she was, she had taken the shoes off. I was not happy about this development and gave her quite the lecture. I tied her shoes once again, and she told me that Daddy does it better. I was about to chuck the shoes out the window.
After the great shoelace debacle, we went around and around again about what jacket she was going to wear. I couldn’t find the one she wanted, and none of the other 1,938 that she owns would do. Finally Andy found the one she wanted, and we were headed out the door when she turned to me and said in a very sad tone, “I’m sorry I drive you crazy.”
I bent down, told her how much she means to me, and started to give her a quick hug. Then I remembered hearing someone (Oprah? Mother Theresa? Carol Brady? Not sure) say that she never let go first during a hug, that she waited for the other person to release. So I waited. A few seconds later, we were on our way, but both a little calmer because of taking that time to reconnect.
We’ve had those mornings too but usually they end in more tears because I can’t deal with the indecision (we pick out the outfit the night before but the coat and shoes drama is enough to put me over sometimes)!
Oprah? Mother Theresa? Carol Brady? I think it was Roseanne. Or Howard Stern. Ummm…my kids will never have non-velcro shoes. Well ok they can have them when they’re 12. And also Kate is TOTALLY PLAYING YOU! Dang, she’s good! Fast forward two years and I know I will be living out the same scenario with Sophie, minus the shoe-tying. It will prolly be a hair-related issue. BLAG.
Those moments totally make all the others worth it 🙂
Just *one* of those hugs makes up for all the shoe-lace issues in the world.
I love the hug advice…I’m going to tuck that away and remember it for a long time!
We had one of those mornings too. My oldest informed me that he “hated” me. Brought me to tears.
Child #3 couldn’t find the shoes that she wanted to wear and they weren’t in her bin like they should be, so I had little sympathy. Until she informed me that she had to have those shoes so she could be beautiful like me. Brought me to tears.
Child #4 is sick and couldn’t join her friends at preschool. She screamed all the way home (after dropping off the others) and told me she would rather be with her teachers than with me. Brought me to tears.
Looks like I have to use your advice and give Child #2 – the only one who didn’t make me cry today … a big ol’ hug when he returns home from school.
Sorry … didn’t mean to write a book in your comments. 🙂
Wow…we had a shoelace debacle this morning too! Something must be in the air.
Oh my gosh… were you guys copying us this morning or what? I woke up early too and had TEN minutes to get faith up, dressed, brushed, etc and to school. Lucy had a meltdown about a jacket and shoes too… and we had one of those hugs.
I swear its the full moon.
oh, sweet. I need to remember that about a hug, it’s a good rule of thumb.
I feel like a cattle driver around here most mornings; no matter what I do the night before to get us ready to head out the door, something (usually a 2.5 year old something) always throws a wrench in the works.
{sigh}
Hear you on the crying — them, and me.
😉
Hang in, sweetie!