Today was yet another one of those days that I feel I played interference between the toddler and her climbing/getting into things and the dog with her chewing. I seriously think they have figured out some way to communicate with each other. While I get something out of the dogs mouth, Lucienne is climbing up onto the table and dumping out the contents of my wallet. I turn to get her down and put everything back and the dog is getting into something else. As I pry it out of her mouth, Luci has found a stool at the sink (placed by Audree) and is playing with the water. I turn it off and dry her off only to find the dog has returned from the toyroom with yet another Pet Shop half destroyed. While I pick up all the pieces, Luci is climbing up the stairs to find what Audree is up to. And so it goes, and goes, and goes.
On another note, in the middle of this constant stream of destruction, I had a not-so-steller mother moment with Audree. I hate when that voice in my head is saying that I need to stop talking yet my mouth just keeps going. It all really starts with my wallet. Audree saw Lucienne getting into it and really wanted to join in the fun. I think, what's the harm in letting her play store with my cards so I let her have my wallet warning her that I expect everything back in it when she's done (mistake #1). Audree happily plays her game while I run back and forth between the dog, not watching exactly what she's doing with it (mistake #2). Later in the day as I'm picking up around the livingroom and diningroom I find my empty wallet...and nothing else. No cards (I never have any money in it so that's not really a concern). When I ask Audree where everything is she gives me that really cute, innocent, doe-eyed look that she has down to a tee and says, "I don't know".
I'd kind of had it with Luci and the dog and unfortunately Audree suffered the consequence of my frustration. I told her that without the contents of my wallet I would no longer be able to buy anything or to drive anywhere. Christmas would have no presents, birthdays would be non-existant, we were never going to go anywhere, ever again. No vacations, no playdates. She is of course in tears but I just keep going (in my defense, I wasn't yelling, just bringing down her world in a calm, orderly manner). The sad part was that I didn't really have any important cards in my wallet to begin with. My credit cards and license were safely attached to my key chain. Health cards and temple recommend in my purse. It was just full of the "point" cards from various stores and other things I haven't used for months, even years.
We looked for the cards all day. We cleaned the toyroom and her bedroom. We took apart the couch and moved all the furniture. It was as if she ate them, although more likely that the dog had eaten them. They were all gone. Just disappeared in thin air. It was actually kind of weird because she had no recollection of what she did with them and we couldn't find them anywhere.
I finally just gave up. I knew they weren't that important and I'd already cancelled Christmas so there wasn't too much to be done. Plus I'd burned off some steam with all the cleaning so I was feeling a bit better.
Within ten minutes of the girls being home from school Evelyn comes up to me with Audree's big book of Dora stories and asks why all my cards are in the pages. Then it all comes back to Audree who says, "I remember now, I put them in my Dora book."
Mystery solved. Christmas and birthdays are free to go ahead. We'll leave the house. And I score a point in the mother-of-year competition I'm surely in the running for.
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