“Mommy!”

Being a mother is a joy! And then there are days when these words make you shrivel up inside and you want to run to the high country.

“Mommy, I don’t feel good. My tummy hurts.”

I’m going to decode this for you. Make sure the vomit bucket is close by, (preferably hung around their neck), the bathroom is clean because someone will be sleeping on it, and the washing machine is available because every piece of linen in your house will be washed within the next 48 hours…if you have one child. If you have more than one…it may take a week and several loads!

“I think I did.” 

No thinking involved here on any level!

“I’m all done cleaning my room.”

This statement, usually proclaimed with a big smile is the same for a three-year old and an eighteen-year old. Stuff is stashed under the bed, piled in the corners and the dirty laundry hamper is overflowing.

“I didn’t get into the cake, (fill in your own food item here). Promise!”

Said with chocolate or your choice of food item smeared over face.

“Mommy, mommy, I did it all by myself!”

If a child under about ten says this to you in any situation…run for cover. Don’t enter the bathroom they just exited, or the kitchen area. It will probably ruin your day.

“Mommy, mommy, Susie, (again fill in the blank here) is bleeding!”

Run with trepidation to the scene of the accident. This could mean a pinprick of blood to copious amounts emerging from a sibling or friend.

And the classic…“But that’s not fair!”

This is not voiced when a contemporary is given a chore…generally, unless that chore has not been tried yet. But it is used for everything else you could possibly think of!

Yes, I do love my five children, and our current four grandchildren. But there were days when they were still living in our home when I seriously wanted to pull my hair out or hide under the house! I didn’t think they were ever going to grow up…and when they did, they would have serious mental handicaps because of the way their thinking seemed to wander around their brain.

No, I was not the nicey-nice mom! I spent the day in my work clothes and ran a tight-ship. Drill instructor was mentioned a few times…okay, more than I would like to remember! But…all my children survived, and yes, they have pretty good mental capacities…most of the time.

That’s why I got such a kick out of this picture. If I had seen it twenty years ago, I would have pasted it on my refrigerator…and laughed. I really did want to be like the first mom…promise!