The other day I was driving in the neighbourhood, and it was cold outside – around 2 degrees, and I had on a hat and gloves, and my winter coat (not my Post-Nuclear Winter coat, but my ski jacket that is one level up). Then I passed a mom walking on the street with her toddler in a carrier on her back, and the toddler’s blond hair was billowing about in the breeze, and I thought to myself, dear Lord, why doesn’t that baby have a hat on? And then I shuddered, remembering all the times I have been on the opposite side of that equation, and sighed to think about how quickly one forgets, and chided myself because the kid seemed happy as a clam and surely the mom knows her own kid better than I do, and thanked the stars that I wasn’t standing next to her where surely I would have said something embarrassing.
Sometimes I think I need to write down all the silly, eye rolling, annoying things that have happened to me so that I can actively try not to become that which I have mocked, and then I remember I have a blog, so there’s that. Sometimes a new perspective isn’t always a better perspective.
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This past week I was working in an actual office, which meant actually getting dressed in the morning and leaving the house. On top of that, Sir Monkeypants was away the entire week for work, so I was suddenly thrust into the role of Single Working Parent. Let me tell you, it was quite a shock. I can now say I truly understand the glory that is coffee.
I managed to get the lunches made and the kids to and from school and the laundry done, more or less, but man, it required me to be on my tip-top game for organization all week long. The really hard part was the cooking. Because of my kids’ allergies, I have to make so much of their food from scratch (all our bread, for example), and squeezing that into the week was tough – thank goodness I had a bunch of stuff stocked up in the freezer to get us through. Not sure what I would have done if things had gone into a second week – as it is, I’m home today and I’m frantically making about six different bread products at once to replenish.
I’m grateful for the luxury of being able to work from home, to set my own hours, and to spend as much time making bagels as is required to feed my kids. I survived my trip to the other side but it’s hard, really hard over there. Sometimes a little change in perspective can help you see that things are pretty darn good just the way they are.
TurtleHead 
YES, I have that same feeling about writing down the things that drove me crazy so maybe I can avoid them! I’ve had the impulse to say something about what a GREAT stage of life the toddler-and-a-baby stage is, when I know PERFECTLY WELL that I found it nearly hellish! It just looks SO ADORABLE from the outside! I’ve also been complaining about increased prices, when that strikes me as being soooo Old Lady.
Do I ever remember, now that you mention it, the issues regarding articles of clothing with that female tot of mine…argh. How often did I simply just refuse to get into it with her, throw her boots into the bottom of the stroller and let her sit there and freezer her tiny tootsies simply because I wasn’t in the mood for yet another fight! lol (sigh sigh sigh)…
And the working world outside the home…boy does that ever scare me. But maybe it’s time for me…the renovations are about to begin (probably January and I have not packed a single item) and the financial impact is keeping me up all night watching the Walking Dead. Maybe if the zombie apocalypse comes we can all forget about money and worry about more important things, like saving humanity and finding old bags of chips to get us through the day… 🙂
This – “actually getting dressed in the morning and leaving the house” – is the scariest part of your post. Because that would mean, for me, wearing my one go-to “professional” outfit five days in a row. Do you think anyone would notice? I might have to add my funeral dress to the rotation and hope it looks a little bit businessy, and not just funereal.
I had that “why doesn’t that baby have a hat on” moment this very afternoon. Glad you survived the week.
THANK YOU! Thank you for having perspective and for not guilt-tripping the poor mom! You wouldn’t believe how many people told me Mark was cold when I’d take him out. Most of the time, either we had just left the store and Feng was with the car around the corner (can’t strap him on the car seat with his winter coat on!) or he had just taken his hat off himself. Same with mitts, they don’t keep them on long…
Very few mother plan to freeze their kid. Very few. 😆
Me too – I have had several older ladies chastise me when out with a toddler about how they should be dressed warmer. It’s in my nature to please so I always came away feeling like a terrible mother, and very embarrassed.
And yet – it was SO EASY to be the one judging on the other side. I’m almost afraid of the grandmother I’m going to be!
I appreciate the occasional advice though, or a reminder, because sometime you’re stressed out or tired or whatever. It just really depends on the way it is expressed. When Mark was a baby, I appreciated someone saying “ooops… I think he lost a sock!” Now the person who chastised me because he was sucking on his (clean) sock can go to hell.