Sunday, December 7, 2008

Pretty Steep Learning Curve





I have been at this parenting thing for a little over 4 years now, and I keep wondering when I'm going to get it, when the "good mommy-ing" is going to kick in. It must be in there!
Yesterday, we woke up and I excitedly asked Will if he'd like to put up the Christmas tree with me. Of course, he was more than exuberant with a joyful response of, "YES!" We got out the tree, set it up, and then came to untangling the beaded garland. Will was holding his wadded knot of beads and asked if he could put them on the tree. The good mommy in me said, "Oh, of course," each word practically dripping with honey it was so sugary sweet, and then the natural Megan emerged just moments later. All it took was a little "help" from the boys with the untangling process before I was shooing them away with a bribe of a popsicle to the basement to play so I could work in peace. Every few minutes or so they would come up looking to help a little more, and each time my words came out less like an angelic mommy, and more like a growly gremlin. By the end of the whole experience I found myself saying to them in a low grumble, "Just go! Don't touch MY tree." Fa, La, La, La, La.
The beautiful thing about kids is they aren't much for holding grudges. Will thinks that our tree is the best tree ever, and my sour mood did little to take away from his overwhelming Christmas spirit.


2 comments:

stef j. said...

yay a blog! (this is stef "myers")

SO funny and SO me! i had my daughter help me make cookies the other day and i said, "no messes" seriously over a million times. she finally gave up and just handed me the spoon to stir, and told me "no messes, momma."

AnnaMarie said...

That's funny...and I keep thinking...won't it be nice when Katie is old enough to help me? Maybe she's as helpful now as she'll ever be. :)