Today was a Mother-Fail day. (Or wait… was it?)

February 26, 2010 by Susan

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The fail actually started in a hotel in Houston where I threw my belongings in a bag and left behind a much-needed iPhone power adapter.

You see, the part of parenting that I hate the most is not the poopy diapers or the temper-tantrums… I hate the ORGANIZING.

The stuff that always falls on moms.

You know what I mean…

Signing the kids up on time to get a spot in preschool.
Fitting in swimming and piano lessons.
Ensuring the ballet leotard is clean on Tuesday morning.
Remembering to pick up a gift for that birthday party next Saturday.
Keeping their immunizations up to-date.
And… making sure they get to the dentist.

(If you have a husband that keeps on top of this stuff, you’ll be the first I’ve met. But wait… don’t tell me… I might hate you for it.)

Even before children, I had a tough time managing my own life. But with my two girls growing older, it gets worse every year.

This morning, still worn-out from my back-to-back blogging conferences and a month of late nights, I sent my girls off with their sitter, drove Janice’s boy Jackson to school, sent off a few emails and then snuck back into bed for a much needed nap.

Since my iPhone is my only alarm clock (my kids seem to steal every other one I purchase and hide them away with their toys), I took my land-line phone to bed with me and asked a friend to call me in 2 hours.

But when the phone rang, it was no friend.

It was the DENTIST!

Julia and Sophia were supposed to be at the pediatric dentist right then.

I was in a sleepy stupor, but could clearly envision the dentist wondering what a mother of a 2 and 4 year old was doing asleep in the middle of the day when they were supposed to be at their dentist appointment.

Panicked at the thought of how costly a double missed appointment fee would be, I sputtered out sorries and asked if I could rush them there now.

I called the sitter who lives a few doors down and asked her to bring my girls over. I jumped out of bed, tied back my still-unwashed hair and ran out the door.

Ten minutes later we arrived at the dentist and if there were any doubt of my incompetence, my disheveled appearance confirmed it.

“We called and left you multiple voice messages.” The dentist said.

And that’s when I remembered my dead iPhone. The one who should have reminded me of this appointment and flashed voicemail messages.

But when I tried to explain that I left my phone charger in a hotel in Houston, I seemed to come off as an absent mother. Add to that the fact that I had to retrieve my children from a sitter. And their phone call woke me in the middle of the day only to have me show up obviously not yet showered and with my 2 year old sucking on a SOOTHER.

Well, I just felt like mother-of-the-year.

Then… of course… my four year old turns out to have her first CAVITY!

After a lecture about flouride tablets and the importance of stopping the soother habit, I dragged my sorry-self and my poorly raised children out the door.

Mothering Failure.

So that night I put my kids to bed in a cupboard.

(LOL. Just kidding. They discovered a fun new place to play. Really they do sleep in a proper bed. But I did let them stay up late to watch the Olympics and put them to bed without a bath.)

WAIT!
I just got back from putting my girls to sleep…

The Good Lord saved my parenting failure of a day…

By some miracle, the dentist telling Sophia she didn’t need her soother must have had an impact. She didn’t ask for it again for the rest of the day and then she went to bed without even mentioning a soother or sucking on her fingers.

She just played around on the bed, acting like she wasn’t tired and wasn’t going to go to bed, and then poof… she was asleep without a soother. MIRACLE.

Likely it won’t last. I foresee a middle of the night meltdown or at least a breakdown tomorrow at the idea of a nap without a soother.

But for now, I’m rewriting this day as a…

Mothering Success. (Even though it had NOTHING to do with me. LOL)

UPDATE:

This morning Sophia asked for a soother and I said in a sweet voice,
“No Honey, remember the dentist said no more soothers.”

And she didn’t say another word about it.

I almost fell off the couch in shock. We’ll see how the day and night proceed without a soother. I’ll keep you posted.

ANOTHER UPDATE – March 8, 2010

Sophia has still never again asked for a soother. But one night she went searching behind her bed and found an old soother and popped it in her mouth. I noticed a few minutes later and said, “Hey, where did you find that? You don’t need a soother.” And she giggled and I took it away.

Not another word.

But sometimes I feel sad for her when she’s crying and touches her lip. I can tell she feels something is missing… but she survives and soon stops crying. For me, I miss being able to stop the tears and screams more quickly by popping a soother in her mouth. But we’ve both pretty much gotten over it.

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About Susan

Susan Carraretto and her identical twin, Janice Croze, created 5 Minutes for Mom in 2006. Susan loves all social media, but her top addiction these days is Pinterest.