Thursday, May 26, 2011

Just one of those mornings

On Tuesday I worked out at the gym in the morning. Both girls did great in the childcare room and I did not have to be paged to change a diaper or walk Addie to the bathroom, so I had a nice uninterrupted workout. I even monitored my time well enough that I took a quick shower & changed there at the gym. We had 45 minutes until Addie's speech therapy appt so I decided to walk around the corner to Starbucks. I had planned on that possibility and packed my reusable coffee mug. I got my coffee and I got a snack for the girls (a mini donut so they each got about 2 bites of chocolate plus I bought a veggie pasta so they were having a well balanced snack). There was a nice table in back for us and a clean highchair for Etta. Oh, I was having a great mom morning. But pride cometh before the fall. In this case the literal fall... of my coffee... all over Etta. It was my fault. I had not put the lid on my mug and I was reaching to help Etta with something and I accidently knocked against it.

The coffee spilled all over the table, Etta & the floor. Etta started crying (obviously). The Starbucks employees came right away & were great! As I stripped Etta's wet clothes off they inquired how she was, they brought a clean cold cloth for me to put on her skin, they brought a small packet of cooling ointment to put on her, they mopped up the floor and wiped the table and checked again how she was doing. I could tell by her crying that she was upset by the wet and the mess but she was not seriously hurt. The whole time Addie was sitting there, concerned and asking questions but being smart enough to stay out of the way. (She  later made me re-tell the scenario about 10 different times that day.) So Etta was then in a diaper and sweater and calm. I gave the girls a few more minutes to eat then we headed back for the car. I was still frazzled from the whole ordeal. I had only had about 3 drinks of my coffee before it spilled but I graciously declined when they offered to make me a new one because I knew Etta would want to be carried back to the car and I had to carry the diaper bag and my gym bag and Addie would want to hold my hand. I was smart enough to know that adding a hot beverage into that scenario was not wise.

So we are walking back to the car except Addie is stopping about every two steps to fix the velcro on her shoes. So we slowly make our way to the car and I have to put Etta in some spare clothes I have in the back of the car. But she is fighting me and squirming and arching her back when I try to put her in the carseat. I get in the car and realize we are running late for speech therapy (bug surprise!). As I try to plot out the fastest way to get there I am bombarded with questions from Addie.

We  get to to our appt about 7 minutes late. Etta has never been there before but is very disgruntled that Addie is going to do something without her. I get her distracted with toys in the waiting room. Two minutes later Addie is back out because she has to go potty (she tried at the gym when we first got there and I asked her at Starbucks if she needed to go, but no, she held it until now). So she got maybe 20 minutes of therapy in.

Meanwhile Etta is still testing my patience (where is that coffee when you need it?!). She wants to play with a toy that another boy is playing with. The toy is huge and they could both play, but she pulls at his shirt and trys to push him away. He is probably 2 1/2 years old but looks at her like she is a scary bully and he is about to bust into tears. I remove her from the toy, tell her that she can not do that, and try to distract her. She wants the toy still so I decide to give her a second chance at sharing. She goes straight for him and pulls at his shirt again. I remove her and reprimand her and distract her. A little later he is sitting on a chair and Etta goes toward him and leans over. I am afraid she is going to bite him or something (even though she is not a biter), instead she gives him a hug (since he is sitting, her head is about at his crotch). Again he looks as if he is going to cry. I tell her that was sweet of her but not everyone likes hugs. He looks at her, looks at the crotch of his pants. He stairs at his pants. A minute later he points to the crotch of his pants and says "I'm wet". Oops, Etta had slobbered him when hugging him! His mom thought it was funny, but I think he might not be thrilled to see Etta in the waiting room again any time soon.
(and in case you are thinking she is acting out because she is in pain from the coffee: I checked her body numerous times over the day and saw not one speckle of discolored skin after we left the coffee shop. She is fighting a cold though so she might just have been grumpy from that)

Lessons I learned:
-always drive straight to the appt, then if there is time walk to a coffee shop very close by
-always put the lid on the coffee
-when offered a new coffee, say yes because chances are you truly need the boost
-throw out those shoes of Addie's because the velcro never stays closed and she does not walk good in them
-be grateful that most weeks Etta does not have to go to therapy with us and instead gets to play at home with her Aunt Lori or Grandma Karen

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