Tonight I was ready to write a post about how great this week of solo parenting had been going. How we had it under control. How I was the picture of working mother balanced with solo parent duties perfected. And then today happened. Lucy didn’t want to eat on schedule. Work was a day filled with too many things added to the to do list and not enough time to do any of them. (Did I mention I fell down in front of a twenty person staff meeting while trying to “sneak” away to the bathroom? No? Well that happened too.) No time to pump, so not enough milk. The bridge was up when I was already running late to the pediatrician’s appointment. Lila didn’t nap at school so, well that was a two year old without a nap.
Tonight was not my finest parenting hour as I dealt with hungry children, fussy cats, potty training trials, smelly trash cans and toddler melt downs. In the end I just had to put Lila to bed as she melted down. No bedtime routine was soothing her and honestly? I just couldn’t deal anymore. I needed her to be asleep. So I did that. I tucked her in, I told her I loved her and that she would feel better in the morning and left the room.
It wasn’t my finest parenting hour but no child was injured. I didn’t hit anyone (or any pets). I didn’t drive the children while drunk. (Or get drunk at all, even if I really just wanted a very large glass of beer.) I made a semi-nutritious dinner (which may have been rejected by a toddler). I washed the bottles for tomorrow.
It wasn’t my finest parenting hour, but tomorrow I will get to try again. Try again to have more patience. Try again to cross things off my list. Try again to write a blog post on our successes this week. Try again to stay on schedule. Try again to show the girls how much I love them. And for tonight, the ability to be able to try again tomorrow is one of the few comforts I have. (That and American Idol. Long live Idol.)
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