Lesson Learned

I learned three very valuable lessons this morning:

1 – To never allow Romey to eat an entire can of mandarin oranges.

2 – To never hastily diaper Romey.

3 – To take Avery’s word when she says that Romey has a dirty diaper. And this is important for any mother of two (or more): when the older child says that the younger one has a dirty diaper it is not because he smells it (maybe) or because the older child is tracking the younger one’s bowel movements. It is because the older child can SEE it, and that, in effect, is reason enough to move quickly.

Wow, did Romey ever have a blow out this morning, made worse by the fact that I was blissfully unaware even though Avery kept telling me that Romey had a dirty diaper. All moms have been there—a major diaper blowout. Of course Romey was wearing her shoes and managed to get them good and dirty as well. These shoes are the fairly typical type of toddler shoes with lots of indentation grippers on the soles. After the aforementioned indiscretion, I flipped over Romey's shoes and had a choice to make: salvage or toss? I chose to salvage, and proceeded to use a toothpick to clean out my daughter’s shoes. Did I mention that the indentation grippers are heart shaped?

As I picked through her shoes, the following thought came to mind: I’m so glad my daughter has shoes. I’m so glad that her digestive system works. I’m so glad that we can afford mandarin oranges (not saying that mandarin oranges are expensive, but I think you understand). Most days I’d be wallowing in my mothering duties hating these types of tasks. I’m not saying I enjoyed it, but it was quickly over, the shoes look great again, and we were on to the next thing.

Perspective is such a valuable commodity. I’m glad I found some today, and am hoping that I wake up with a generous portion tomorrow too.