The Measure of A Good Mother

Spike had to go into the office today so my Saturday turned into a Monday. Pixie decided to celebrate by peeing on the leather couch. Her reason? She didn't feel like getting up and missing any of her movie.

I was mildly ticked, but handled it well enough. We turned off the t.v. and had a talk about what she should do next time she needed to use the bathroom.

A few hours later she was torturing her baby sister in the way that only three year olds know how so I sent her to her room for a few minutes of Time Out. Her retaliation? She pulled all the clothes out of her closet that I had just washed the night before, put them in a big pile in the middle of the floor, and peed on them.

Seriously? Seriously. I have to admit, I lost it. I started yelling, "I'm just so mad! I'm just so mad!" over and over.
"Do you need a hug, Mommy?" she asked with concern.
"I need you to go down to the coin op and wash all these clothes. I need your Dad to come home. I need my house not to smell like pee 24 hours a day. I need to go to my room and lay down. I'm just so mad!"

Luckily, heaven intervened and two minutes post-peedom Spike came home. I ran into my room and collapsed on the bed, leaving him to deal with Pixie's dinner and bedtime. Spike summed up the day pretty well. "Some days it's an accomplishment just not to have killed your kids."

Sunday is only an hour away and I still have two live children in my home. Maybe I had a good day after all.

Comments

NG said…
Well done. I know exactly how those days feel... I'm not sure I would have fared as well as you.
Kels said…
lol Wow! She's like a cat in her retaliation. :-) I hate to say it this way, but that's just how kids are at that age. When I worked with 2/3 year olds that were potty training/trained they would pee on themselves and in their chair at the art table because they didn't want anyone else to get the crayons they had picked out. Yup. Gotta love the little ones!
Molly said…
That laundry thing would have thrown me over the edge.
Anonymous said…
Spike hit it right on the head! I feel that way on some of our not so fun days too.
Carolyn said…
I'm up to my eyeballs in vomit and pee over here. I haven't killed anyone. I should get a blue ribbon!
TheOneTrueSue said…
Yeah. Sometimes not killing them is about the best we can do. My five year old (FIVE year old mind you) has all of a sudden started wetting her pants. There is nothing medicall wrong, she just doesn't want to stop playing to pee. Yesterday she wet her pants four times. At 9:00, when she was supposed to have been asleep for two hours, I go into her bathroom to see her crouching - not over the toilet, but over the floor - and peeing on the bathroom floor. I was SO ANGRY. I said the exact same thing you did - "I'M SO MAD RIGHT NOW" along with "WHY DO YOU KEEP PEEING EVERYWHERE? WHY? WHY? WHY!?" Arg.

My husband's gone till Thursday. I'm tempted to call him names right now.
Anonymous said…
Oh my goodness. Kudos to you for having both of them alive!
The Wiz said…
1000 points to you.
Dorri said…
oh, I'm so sorry, I've totally been there. When my now 7yr old was 4 he got mad at me and peed into his bucket of legos and on his magna doodle. So I threw them away. He hasn't done it since, but he still reminds me of when I threw his toys away, and I remind him why I threw them away.
Hang in there and Wiz is right at least 1000 pts for having 2 live children at the end of a rough day.
Jillybean said…
After that day, I think allowing her to live is very commendable.
Hang in there, it can only get better:0)
If I didn't read this blog regularly, I would have thought Pixie was your Cocker Spaniel. I HATE days like that especially when it came on your "day off"
KEeP BELIEVING
Anonymous said…
Coming from someone with a 4 years old son who just doesn't "want" to use the potty. I think I may have finally figured out the way not to be CONSTANTLY doing laundry (as if 3 kids isn't enough!) ... after a day similar to yours, I had fanally had enough. I made it his choice. If he wants, he can be a baby, but that includes 2 naps a day like the 6 month old, he gets to wear diapers (or pullups), and each time he wets his pants he loses a big boy toy and he cannot play with the 2yr olds toys either just the baby toys ...BORING. On the opposite side if he stays dry for a whole week (Which I know he can) he gets to sleep over and grandma and grandpas house. Seams to be working so far!!! HORRAY! only one accident this week!
Karen said…
She peed on a stack of clothes for retaliation?! At three!! I fear for her teen years.

Spike is wise. There are many days that I think my kids are lucky to go to bed alive.
Anonymous said…
YEAH for Sunday and a 2 hours of blissful adult learning time...
Anonymous said…
I know this wasn't supposed to be funny, but I can't stop laughing! I'm totally returning the kid I'm having in 10 days... where does that line form again??
Ryan said…
whoa, all you yelled was : "I am so mad"- thats serious restraint. On the mother meter you are surely higher than me! :)
Allie said…
Sometimes, we need a little break from the things we love the most, just so that we can still love them. Try having 4, It's double the fun.
Sarah said…
Thank you so much for your support, you guys. This is the biggest reason I love blogging because I honestly don't think I'd be able to get through stuff like this without other moms out there telling me they can empathize.

April - sounds like some good old motherhood creativity to come up with your peeing solution. How long did you actually have to do it before he started shaping up?

Angie - I'm starting to think kids really are just hairless cocker spaniels. Except you get condeming looks from other women if you put kids on leashes.

Moody - peeing in a bucket of legos? I shiver to think of ever having a boy. Another one of Spike's assurances last night was, "can you think of all the damage she'd do if she was a boy? Think of the range!"
Ally said…
I feel like that.

A lot.
Erin said…
Good job, everyone, for staying alive. I would have totally lost it there (and I have lost it before). Sigh. Sunday isn't really any better, usually, except that my husband just got released from being the bishop today when our ward merged with another ward! HOORAY!
Unknown said…
Again, as I have said many times, many ways: I am going out RIGHT NOW and getting my tubes tied. I think I'll tie at least one other person's while I'm at it.

I should forward this to Allie, she's in the throes of BABY WANT! right now... might diffuse it a bit.
Anonymous said…
A link to your blog was on my sister-in-law's blog and I was bored (a.k.a. not wanting to do dishes or fold laundry) so decided to click on it. Thanks for a good laugh. Not funny for you, but funny to read. I would venture to say most, if not all, moms have been there!
Anonymous said…
Glad to know there are other moms that feel good at the end of the day knowing they didn't kill their kids!
Nancy Sabina said…
Spike is right. Not killing them is the best thing I do for them some days. And as for the peeing on stuff - I promise it will end. Eventually.
Naomi went through a phase like that and I really did nearly kill her. Once she peed in her dress-up- in the bathroom -because she didn't want to take it off to go potty. I had a little less restraint than you and ripped the dress-up off her, carried her over my shoulder to the bath and dumped her in it somewhat harshly. After confiscation of the dress-up, and a little more roughness from Mom than usual, she never did that again. But that reaction is one of my biggest regrets as a mother. It is the closest I've come to a "violent" reaction. So big, fat, giant-elephant sized kudos to you for keeping it under control.
Rachel said…
Why can't three-year-olds understand the concept of Saturday?
Anonymous said…
Wow. It's stories like these that make me wonder why parents don't spank their kids anymore. Although I do like the creative discipline ideas like throwing away toys.
S'mee said…
Oh so sorry you had a bad "pee-day".

I learned about "time out" late in the game, but this I did learn. Time out is best being in the same room as the mom...for reasons you just figured out. UGH!

And this from a gramma: Stay consistent. Be firm now when they are little and when the teen years come they (and you) will fair much better.

(I hope you keep emergency chocolate on hand)
Unknown said…
I think it's healthy for kids to see mom get mad, then see mom calm down. It's good modeling.

When my kids broke my large decorative mirror, I didn't hold back my emotions. I cried, I yelled, they got yelled at, then I calmed down and cleaned it up.

They got a hug later and a reminder to be more careful. Their punishment was witnessing my fury. I don't think they are going play ball in the house ever again.
Heather O. said…
"If I didn't read this blog regularly, I would have thought Pixie was your Cocker Spaniel"
Okay, laughing even harder!

I'm with The Wiz. 1000 points comin' your way. Sorry I can't send a carpet cleaner.
wynne said…
Congratulations. You're all still alive. And--wow. She peed on her clothes.

Potty training is awful. ESPECIALLY when they are trained, and it should all be over, but...it isn't. *sigh* But you're doing better than me. (Lately I've been tempted to incorporate a great deal of duct tape into my parenting strategies. For example, in your situation, the thought may have crossed my mind to make Pixie wear some peed-on clothes, and tape them on her so she couldn't take them off. And I KNOW that isn't right. But I'll confine my crazy to my own blog. Sorry.)

Point being: I'm proud of you. You deserve an award.
Anonymous said…
Uhm...WHY do people have children on purpose? I am going to have to go read one of your heartwarming posts before I go have my tubes tied.
Colleen said…
Oh man. You really are a fantastic mom.

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