Junky Beans For Breakfast

One of the things that surprises me most about being a parent is the way I'll (occasionally) compromise with my kids for a little peace and quiet, a little cooperation, or a little temper free moment. You know, the prebaby days where you see a frantic mom shove a sucker in her toddler's mouth before the ear piercing scream blasts out and you think to yourself, "tsk, tsk, I will never do that when I have kids." And now I'm the frantic mom.

Take this morning for instance. Given that this is the 21st century, there must be a better way to carry on a phone conversation but since my cordless will not keep a charge, I am resigned to being attached to my corded phone in the hall. I can only reach about 5 feet when on the phone and I think my kids take full advantage of this knowledge. Austin was just finishing a breathing treatment and I had the Tylenol out to give him yet another dose. Lexi grabbed the closed bottle off the coffee table and wouldn't give it up for anything. Just as I got it out of her little clenched hands and she was going into full meltdown, Leslie called. She wanted to borrow some ink for her stamps (and since I'm so thrilled that she's finally scrapping I happily obliged.)

And so to enjoy my 10 minute phone conversation, I compromised and handed the bottle of Tylenol back to my whining baby. I thought, "what the heck, the bottle is child proof and closed and I'm sitting in full view of her." She toddled away happily chewing on the rubber topper and I turned my attention back to Leslie.

Several minutes later, I was still on the phone with Leslie when the girls got into the front closet (which was left open because I was in the process of getting stuff out of my purse before the breathing treatment/med session, and the phone call, and the...). Now, usually the front closet is closed because I can store both my purse and the diaper bag in there and Lexi cannot get the door open to get into them. It is a given... if my purse/diaper bag is out, she WILL get into it. This must be a girl thing as Audrey (but not Austin) went through the same stage. And usually I'll take my purse away and put it out of reach if I see one of the girls going through it. Today, however, I just wanted to finish my phone conversation so I made no attempt at stopping the girls.

Then I really won the "mother-of-the-year" award when I realized the girls had found a little container of Jelly Bellys that I had in the diaper bag for potty treats on the go. Realizing this would get me another 10 minutes of peaceful phone conversation, I relented again. Audrey doled out the "junky beans" (as she calls them) and I was able to not only finish talking with Leslie, but also make Austin a doctor's appointment and jump in the shower and get ready while the girls pigged down. Audrey confessed to daddy at dinner tonite that, "one time (she always starts her stories with "one time...") she ate a whole package of junky beans."

So did I mention that I *love* my pediatrician? Austin's asthma flared up out of the blue around midnite Saturday. It's always worse at nite and I'm always thankful when morning comes, but when he woke up this morning tired, hot, and crying I knew I had to get him to the dr's. I finally got through (the line was busy for about 10 minutes) and they told me to bring him right over. I, of course, was still in my pj's and the girls were running around half naked. Tom, of course, drove our van to work today because I thought we were just going to hang low at home all day. I managed to get ready and get the girls dressed so that we could leave by the time he got home with the van. We walked into the doctor's office and got the red carpet treatment. The receptionist told me to go right back to the exam rooms. The nurses were ready and waiting with an exam room set up with a breathing treatment for Austin. We got in and out of the office within 20 minutes. Austin's back on prelone for 3 days. He HATES this steroid and it always takes him forever to get down one measly teaspoon of the nasty stuff but I always notice a big difference within the first day. He has to go back Thursday for a recheck, but I think the worst is behind us and he'll be able to make it to school tomorrow.

So to summarize, I get the "Outstanding Mother of the Year" award today because I:

1. For the sake of peace, allowed my toddler to play with/teethe on a bottle of medication.
2. Looked the other way when my girls discovered my purse and diaper bag.
3. Allowed my children to dine on a breakfast of junky beans.
4. Rewarded Austin with a spoonful of brown sugar after he gagged down his medicine- hey, it was out for the healthy oatmeal I was cooking for their second breakfast.

Please don't report me to the CPA.