Mother of the Year

Sometimes I am stunned by the number of times I screw up as a parent. Thankfully, I have yet to do any permanent damage to the baby girl, but the guilt that accompanies these incidents is almost more than I can take. It makes me feel like I need to surrender myself to the proper authorities.

My first example? Yesterday Lois had to accompany me to the home inspection on our new pad. She was a Cranky McCrankerston when we arrived, so I got her out of her car seat and did some rocking and patting and whispering until she was comfortably asleep. At that point, I put her back in her car seat and proceeded to take a tour of my new house noting where our furniture would fit and exactly how many rugs we would need to buy - and just to make my sister happy, I planned where the Christmas tree would go. That's an important consideration, you know. When the inspection was over (and it went very well - thanks for asking) I picked up the seat with the sleeping bean inside, stuffed her back in the car, and drove back to 2161B. Only when I had arrived safely back at the basement did I realize I had forgotten to buckle her in. Nice.


This morning Lois woke up bright and early and had her first bottle of the day with her Dad at 6:30am. She immediately fell back asleep (as she always does) and he put her in her pack and play bassinet here in the basement. I woke up, had some coffee, and was checking my email when I heard her stir. She has a tendency to do a little talking and wiggling and then fall back asleep, so I ignored the first 2 minutes of what I was hearing. I finally realized the bean was up for the day and went to retrieve her. When I did, I notice a large portion of the milk she drank at 6:30 had been barfed up - and since she was on her belly, she was lying in it. She had curdled milk ALL over her face, chin, in her hair, and all over her hands. Lovely. She had a bath and is sweet smelling and curdle free again - but I feel like a heel for ignoring her.


Fast forward to breakfast. Lois is enjoying her oatmeal and pears like a good girl - but she's recently become quite fond of grabbing her spoon and trying to feed herself. Well, I don't think she's actually interested in feeding herself. She just wants to play with the spoon and throw cereal (aka wallpaper paste) all over the room. But I indulge her and let her have the spoon for some experimentation because I am trying to mold her little 10 month brain. I'm a good Mom that way. But when the cereal starts flying , and the spoon is in danger of hitting the floor, I attempt to retrieve it from her. Apparently this morning I was a bit overzealous in my attempt and raked my fingernails down her forehead. She screamed. Fabulous.


So, I took the bean and a blanket outside and we played and had an impromptu photo shoot. I converted all of the pics to black and white because Lois's dress was ugly. I can say that because I picked it out. See. I can't even do that right. The resulting photos made me feel better. And from the smile on her face, I guessing she forgives her Momma. I'll try harder, butter bean. I promise.