The pride, the fall, and what would you have done?
The Lord, in His mercy, sent some cool winds our way today. Rather than packing up and heading to the library for toddler storytime, I decided to pack up and take both girls to the park for the first time by myself. It was really a gorgeous morning and our town playscape was surprisingly empty. I snuggled AJ up in our trusty mei tai (which is quickly becoming my very favorite baby accessory!) and off we went, the three of us, to climb and dig and chase and explore.
D made friends with two darling sweet ones, and I was sitting in the shade by the sandbox, quietly congratulating myself. I mean, this "life with two" thing - it's not so hard, right? I have friends who have shared how difficult it was to get out of the house at all with two, and yet I pack up both girls and go somewhere with both of them most every day. It gets tricky, but really, it's not that bad. And with this being the most difficult and stressful football season The Coach and I have gone through together, I am doing this parenting thing - for the most part - on my own.
So yeah, I was sitting there feeling pretty darn sassy.
A mom I recognized from gymnastics and storytime sat down beside me and we were chatting away about our lives before kids and what plans the future held for life after the youngest heads to kindergarten. D approached us with a bucket full of sand. Wet sand. She started swinging it at me (the way we swing cups of water in the bathtub) and said, "Splashy splash!" I took the bucket from her and oh-so-gently explained that we don't do splashy splash with sand, only water. And only in the bathtub. I returned to conversation with the other mommy, fully unaware that my gentle correction was not sitting well with princesa D.
In a span of time I am here to tell you was far shorter than the blink of an eye, D scooped up a fistful of wet sand in her sweet little hand and threw it right at me. Wet sand went everywhere! It covered my face, my hair, and worst of all, my sweetly sleeping, utterly innocent bystander one month old AJ. I mean it COVERED her. There was sand in her hair, in her eyes, and in the little folds of skin under her neck.
The fact that this transpired not only in public, but in full view of another parent is a testimony to God's Hand of protection on D. I was royally pissed off. And I sure didn't feel quite as sassy anymore.
Honestly, I was so stunned, I didn't know what to do. I stood up and told my mommy friend, "I am so sorry, but we have to go now!" She was kind and gracious and assured me that her toddler had pulled some such stunt on another occasion . . . I can't remember what she said exactly because I had to focus all of my physical, emotional, and spiritual energy into not just flipping out on D.
As it turns out, life with two . . . yeah, it's sorta hard.
I dragged D out to the car and attempted a quick clean-up. I told her several times that we were leaving the park because she had made a very bad choice, and that it was hurtful to Mommy and AJ for her to throw sand on us. I gotta tell ya, friends. She didn't seem bothered, let alone remorseful, for this in the least.
And so here is where I am soliciting advice from you - new moms, old moms, not-yet-moms. Keeping in mind D is two years, eight months old, what would you have done?
