Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Whip cream and TV

It's ironic and I'm sure it happens to all working mothers. When you are at work, you want to be home and when you are at home with your child, work doesn't seem that bad. Well, today is one of those days. I came home from work to wait for the new dishwasher to be delivered between the very generic time frame of 10AM - 2 Pm. When I arrived, my nanny (because I feel she takes care of me as much as she takes care of Amelia) asked me to get out early to pick up her sister at the hospital.

"Sure, Mima, no problem."

Right, well, I totally forgot about Amelia's mood when she has a bad cold. Poor thing, the cough and the runny nose are driving her crazy. In turn, her mood is foul, to put it mildly. So under these conditions, I've decided to just please the girl. She's on her second bowl of whip cream. I tried sneaking strawberries in the first one and she returned them untouched. She's watched more TV than a toddler should with a loving adult in the house. I know, I'm mother of the year.

It's gorgeous outside but I'm afraid her cough will get worse if I take her out for a walk. Plus, I have a sore throat and I'm beginning my second round of antibiotics. Maybe she thinks I'm in a foul mood as well. What a couple. Ay Mama!

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Her first shiner, her second birthday

Amelia turned 2 years old on October 3rd. She celebrated with a Dora cake and a black eye. It wasn't me. I don't blame you for thinking that because of my previous entry, but it was an accident. Her first bad fall. She was getting off our bed and didn't nail the landing. At least, that is what we think since I wasn't in the room and my husband, who was with her, wasn't looking.

I'M NOT BLAMING HIM AT ALL. He assumed, like I would have, that she had nailed the landing before and that she would do it again, but she didn't. We think she slipped and hit her head against the humidifier.

"Thump"
"She fell!"
Silent scream followed and then that horrible, gut wrenching cry you never want to hear from your child. We checked her mouth. No blood, all her teeth intact. Then I looked at her eyes and that big purple bump seemed to have formed in a matter of seconds.

Amelia has a pair of the most gorgeous, expressive eyes I've ever seen. I'm always afraid of something happening to those eyes and when it did, it took my breath away. She was fine. I called the doctor, watched her closely through the night and she was fine.

But the shiner was there for almost 2 weeks. At first I didn't leave the house with her because I was afraid someone would question what happened. But I got over that. More often than not, a sympathetic mom would ask "what did she hit?" and told me all about their own child's accident at that age.

I have to admit after I realized that she was fine, I immediately thought about the birthday pictures. My mom was bringing her a beautiful dress to wear and the shiner would not complete the look. But motherhood has taught me that it is what it is. She was going to turn 2, a healthy 2 and that was picture perfect, black eye and all. Ay Mama!