Poisoned Peaches
Jun 18, 2010 What's Going On
Occasionally I do actually shower before taking the kids to school, and this morning was one of those rare mornings. While I was in the shower and the kids were having breakfast, Fiona came up to ask me if she could have a peach. She’d been waiting rather impatiently for the slowest-ripening peaches in the world, so I said go ahead. But, I remembered that I had sprayed for mosquitoes yesterday. And while I didn’t spray the kitchen, the peaches had been out on the counter while I sprayed the rest of the house (smart, I know). So while I’m sure there’s normally an old layer of pesticide on all of the peaches in our house, there was a really good chance that there was a fresh new layer on these particular peaches. I wanted Fiona understand the seriousness of the peach washing – on a good day she only hears about a third of what I say, same as her dad – so I told her that there was a little bit of bug-killing poison on the peaches, but they’d be just fine if she washed one well.
When I came downstairs I noticed that none of the peaches had been eaten. Fiona was watching TV, and I asked her why she hadn’t had a peach. “I was scared of the poison.” She looked so pathetic saying it, she had been waiting for those peaches and now they were ready, but possibly deadly. I washed one for her and gave it to her with a smile.
She stared at it for a moment, wanting to trust me, but then she decided not to risk it and put it on the counter. I told her it was totally safe. She picked it up, looked at it really closely, and then held it out to me. “Will you take a bite first? I want to see if you’re OK.”
I did, and I was. And she happily ate the rest. I can now add royal taster to my resume.
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information. Amy also blogs at Filming In Brooklyn, Behind the Screen, and the NYC Moms Blog.
Tags: Kids, pesticides
Twenty minutes of peace
Apr 30, 2010 What's Going On
This morning I woke up in a bad mood. I’ve been busier than I would like lately. It’s really a good thing – a bunch of great opportunities came up in the past couple of weeks, and I said yes to all of them. Things are usually more spread out, so this was just a fluke. But by this morning I was worn out.
On the way to school this morning, Fiona said “Mommy, why are you sad?” I told her I wasn’t, that I was just very busy and worried that I wouldn’t get some things done in time. Well, Fiona’s world has been all about her sixth birthday lately – she’s been counting down for a month. Tomorrow is a small slumber party, her first. We stopped walking to wait for a red light and she looked up at me and said “Are you going to be busy for my party?” I told her completely honestly that all work would stop before we brought her friends home from school. (For sure I’ll be on Twitter while the girls watch the Hannah Montana movie, but that’s not work – that’s how I relax.) Great, my mood had my daughter stressed about her birthday party.
By the time I picked the kids up I had climbed about halfway out of my mood, but four hours of homework and driving to after school activities dumped me back into it. The kids were fine – they were actually being quite good – but by the time we got home close to seven I just needed a little peace and quiet. I told the kids to go upstairs while I made dinner. They went without arguing, they could tell that it was in their own best interest.
About twenty minutes later I heard Fiona sneaking down the stairs (cat burglar will not be on her resume) and I waited while she tiptoed into the kitchen. “Mommy, why didn’t you want to be around us?” I went over to the couch and asked if she wanted to sit on my lap. She’s a sensitive soul and I wanted to get this just right.
I explained that it wasn’t her and Jake that I didn’t want to be around, I didn’t want to be around anybody. I was in a bad mood and wanted to have a little time to myself to get into a better mood, so that I wouldn’t start yelling. I asked her if she ever got into bad moods moods where she wanted to be alone, and she said no, that she was always happy and always wanted to be around people. (Which I think is actually mostly true. I gave birth to a Disney character who wakes up singing every morning.) So I asked her to try to imagine what I was feeling, and she said she could, and that she was glad I was back into a good mood, and asked very sweetly if she could be around me again, and I said that I would love that.
And that was that. The rest of the evening was really good. I’m still not completely out of my mood, but that’s fine. The important thing is that I did what I had to do to keep from taking my mood out on the kids. And I think that Fiona really gets it. The next time I need them to leave me alone for a little while I’ll remind her of our talk.
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information. Amy also blogs at Filming In Brooklyn, Behind the Screen, and the NYC Moms Blog.
A punishment for one kid is play for another
Mar 2, 2010 Amy in the Morning
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Tags: cleaning, Kids, Rick Astley, Rickrolling
