Blog Archive

Powered by Blogger.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Why I Won't Be "Mother of the Year" This Year

I’m pretty sure Hannah should go live with someone else and I should have my parenting rights fully taken from me. Today started out as a great day. I got up early with Hannah; we read stories and played with toys for a few hours. In true “good mom” fashion, I whipped up a little snack of cereal, egg yolk, and bananas. She ate her snack and then went down for a nap. Everything was going well…little did I know that later in the day I would totally fail my child as a mom.

Since George W. Bush has been President, Laura Bush and the Library of Congress put on a National Book Festival every year. They have many great authors who speak and sign books for you. Last year I got to see Jodi Picoult, my FAVORITE author! This year they had great children’s authors and so I decided to take Hannah down to experience the festival (Remember…good mom here…I want her to have many great experiences in her life). It has been rainy here in our nation’s capital so we decided to test our luck and head down to the National Mall anyway. Off we went (Hannah, myself, Kim, and a friend of mine). We took the metro down and arrived at the festival. As we were about to go into the book sales tent it started to sprinkle. Being the GOOD MOM that I am, I put my raincoat over the stroller so Hannah would not get wet. We made our way into the tent and started walking around. As we were turning a corner the stroller appeared to be stuck on something. I was pushing but the stroller was not moving. I pushed a little harder…still nothing. Then I looked down and saw that Hannah’s silky was on the ground. Being the GOOD MOM that I am, I bent down so that it wouldn’t get muddy. As I bent down to pick it up, my heart just about dropped out of my chest. Hannah was LAYING ON THE GROUND UNDER THE STROLLER. I WAS RUNNING OVER MY OWN CHILD WITH HER STROLLER!!! NO WONDER THE STROLLER WOULDN’T MOVE…MY BABY WAS LAYING ON THE GROUND UNDERNEATH IT!! She was not crying at all, just looking up at me, probably wondering how she will ever survive the next 18 years of her life. I scooped her up and she was covered in mud. I just about burst into tears but I stayed strong somehow (probably because there were about 100,000 people at the festival and they all just witnessed my “mom of the year moment.” I think I said, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry” to Hannah about 50 times. My mother in law (Kim) tried to reassure me and quickly reminded me of the time she let Hannah’s aunt roll down the stairs in her walker and found her hanging onto the tray by her feet. My friend who was with us, who happens to be pregnant, was just looking at me like I was insane (I don’t think I’ll be allowed to babysit that baby!) Hannah was absolutely fine. Once my heart started beating again, I was able to laugh about it (a little bit).

I’m sure you are probably thinking to yourself, “How on earth did that happen?” To be honest, I don’t know. Hannah wasn’t strapped in to her stroller because she normally is just fine in there without the straps. She must not have liked the jacket covering her and we are thinking she just slid right out of the bottom of the stroller. No one saw her fall out, so we really don’t know what happened.

As you can see from the picture, Hannah was not fazed at all by the whole ordeal. Also notice that she is securely strapped in the stroller (as she will be from now on) and if you look closely you can see what is left of the mud on her pants.

Please tell me that this type of thing has happened to you and that Hannah should not be handed over to child protective services right away.
Posted by Picasa

2 comments:

Renee Huston said...

Alexis---oh my word!! I'm still laughing about this! Don't worry...it sounds exactly like something I would have done. Gene and I are still laughing about it, though! Thanks for the laugh! (still laughing...)

The Cutter Family said...

Friend! What a horrible experience!!! Don't worry, we must all have moments like that in our parenting journey. One time when Isabel was about Hannah's age, I was at the mall doing some shopping with my mom and I completely forgot to feed Isabel ... all day long. I cried about that for a long time. Also, one time I forgot to buckle Isabel into her carseat. I didn't realize it until I got home and tried to unbuckle her. See, it happens to all of us!