Memories both good and bad....

This week was filled with 2 very specific and definite memories for me. One made me laugh, the other cry.

The Laughter:

Jules and I were snuggling the other day while watching a movie. Out of nowhere, for me anyway, she asks me why Daddy have a stick and how can she get one to go to the bathroom with?

UH.... heh heh... UH... crickets chirruping... heh heh... heheh hehehehehehe... uh... well....can I be anymore juvenile? Seriously, it was a struggle to keep a straight face.

I/we have been calling male/female body parts by their correct names since she was born. Statistics show why this is such a good practice to begin early on and I was sold on it hook line and sinker.

But... when she referenced Daddy's and how to get one, combined with the experience of her attempting to go to the bathroom like Daddy earlier that morning.. it was just too much and I giggled.

Mom fail #1 this week.

The Tears:

This one hurt. I knew it would come some day but naively thought it would be during the teen years. Nope. We were getting ready for work/daycare and for the umpteenth time I asked her to get her shoes on. She for the umpteenth time had some excuse as to why she needed to procrastinate further (like Mother like Daughter, right?). Finally I told her shoes or time out. As she stomped her little feet over to her shoe cubby.. I heard her muttering.. Clearly came the words:

"I hate my Mommy."

I thought to myself.. did she just say what I thought she said? So I asked her:

"Julia, did you just say you hate your Mommy?"

"Yes."

{breathe Angela}
{breathe}
{in, out, it will be ok Mommy}

I sit down.

Silence filled me while frantic whispers went round and round in my head with thoughts of denial and acceptance and sadness and how am I going to turn this into a positive learning experience?....

So... I asked her to come to me. I let her see the hurt her words caused, but only so I could show her how we need to choose our words carefully and why. I explained an alternate way to express our frustrations and how she could say 'I'm mad at my Mommy' or 'My Mommy makes me so sad.. etc.' Just a few different ways to say the same thing but not with such painful results because once spoken, we can't take them back. I reassured her that it's ok to feel the way she felt and am praying she understood what I was saying or trying to anyway.

The tales of Mommyhood..

Take care, Love Ang