The No Good, Terrible, Very Bad Day

We all have them as mothers, right? Well, today was one such day. (This actually happened two weeks ago, but it took me that long to finish the post. Hey, I was busy). But to fully appreciate my no good, terrible, very bad day, I need to start at the very beginning (a very good place to start). So, here goes. (Of course, in retrospect, it doesn't seem all that bad. But at the time, it did. Honest, I swear. You try potty-training a stubborn three-year-old).

• As previously mentioned, Will is a potty-training mess. He only wears a diaper at night and he then just waits for that time to go number 2. So in an effort to somehow get him potty-trained, we put him in underwear at night. He can only hold it until about 5:30 in the morning and he gets up on his own, goes potty, goes back to his room, but DOES NOT GO BACK TO SLEEP. So, he's had some insanely early mornings which makes him insanely crabby throughout the day. That is how our day began. Early. Crabby.


• We took Josh to work around 7:20, then went straight to the market to do our grocery shopping. We came home, ate breakfast and the plan was to do a few things (like put away groceries, empty the dishwasher and clean up the kitchen) and then take off for the gym around 10:00.


• We ate breakfast and then, while I was trying to get a few things accomplished, Will cried his desperate, "Mama, Mama, Mama" cry, which means he has to go number 2. Well, he has to go, yet he won't go. So literally 12 pair of streaked underwear, two hours and no number 2 later, he is in tears and my house is still a disaster and it is now 11:30. The childcare at the gym closes at 12:00, so no gym for us.


• Will was driving me bonkers from the crying, so I send him upstairs to watch a show on my bed, so I can please empty the dishwasher, thank you very much.


• A half-hour later, the groceries put away, dishwasher emptied, the kitchen cleaned, lunch made, I went upstairs to get Will for lunch. He is passed out on my bed. He NEVER just passes out on my bed and NEVER at 11:30 in the morning. But hey, I'll take it.


• He sleeps for two hours and wakes up soooooooooo very angry because 1. he is hungry and 2. his show is turned off. Not able/willing to deal with it, I let him eat lunch on my bed, while he finishes watching his show. I just snuggle next to him. (Great parenting, I know).


• After lunch, he is much happier and he proceeds to do "Spiderman dives" off my tall bed. A spiderman dive is where he covers his entire head with his nigh-nigh (darn that nigh-nigh) and jumps with full gusto off the bed, never knowing where he will land. Clearly, this was making me a little nervous so I told him only one more spiderman dive. Well, that last one was the fatal one. He jumped full-speed into my bedside table, where his head landed right on the corner of it. Luckily, the nigh-nigh cushioned his fall, so no stitches necessary, but he did end up with one nasty black-eye and some scratches. Of course, followed were many more tears.


• We watched some home videos to calm him down, went on a walk (a little exercise, yeah!) and I proceed to attempt to make dinner while he plays with his cars in his room.


• Of course, from downstairs, with two burners on, dinner in process, Will is upstairs yelling his special, "Mama, Mama" cry. I book it upstairs, but it is too late. He has messed his pants. I clean him up, give him a bath, and by then it's time to go get Josh from work.


• So we go get Josh and he comes home to a messy house, (smelly house), dinner half-made, an exasperated un-showered wife and a crabby little boy. Luckily, as usual, Josh saves the day by finishing dinner while I shower, then feeding Will and putting him to bed while I went and got some much-needed pampering in the form of a hair cut. And that put an end to the no good, terrible, very bad day where nothing was accomplished except poop and injuries and where I almost pulled out all my hair in utter frustration (potty training is going to kill me) and, once again, Josh saved the day. Here's to hoping tomorrow's better (and that Will will somehow magically be potty-trained. We can dream, right?). What's your terrible, no good, very bad day?

Will's injuries.

The camera really doesn't do it justice.

Josh and Will and their respective battle-scars.