All No All the Time

Like all moms who are apt to feel guilty after complaining about their children, I will begin with a disclaimer:  I love my son. I love him more than I thought it possible to love a baby. I love everything about him.

Jamie is driving me crazy. And today was a really bad day.

Today was one of those days when I remember why daycare can be a blessing. Today was the kind of day I considered buying a Powerball ticket in the hopes that we could be rich and I could afford a nanny to take care of my son. Today was the kind of day when I heard myself, on the brink of tears, say, "Jamie, mommy is begging you to stop playing in the dog water."

To look at him, you might not guess that he is such a menace. "Come on," you say, "he looks so sweet." And he is. He is super sweet. But he is also in a phase where every drawer must be emptied. Every piece of furniture must be scaled. Every shelf must be cleared of its contents. And every toilet must be thoroughly inspected.

I think that I spent my entire day either saying, or sometimes shouting, "No."  (Or "No no no no no noooooo!") And when I wasn't telling Jamie "No," I was wiping away his tears after he banged into some piece of furniture. Seriously, the whole day was like this.

Remember the book Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day? There should be a mom version. After today, I would title mine, Jamie's Mom and the Horrendously Irritating Incompetent Parenting Day.

The best thing about this day is that it is almost over. And Dave, who should be nominated for husband of the year, is handling the baths and bedtimes. And Kara sang to us in French because she is learning French in school!?! And Jamie stacked eight blocks. And just when I thought I couldn't take any more this afternoon, Kara asked me to play tag with her in the yard, so Jamie and Kara and I ran around shrieking and giggling for 10 minutes.

Bring on tomorrow.