Last weekend I played the part of single parent because Andy went home to Rhode Island for his twenty year high school reunion. When I go away for a weekend, it's a novelty for him and he has a great time taking the care of the girls alone. For me, however, it's just one long never ending week. So I decided to try and be fun mom for the weekend to try and break things up. I had made exciting plans like ordering out for pizza, visiting and going out to lunch with a friend, and movie night. I was determined to have excellent times with my girls! Unfortunately, their fighting, whining, not listening to me combined with my PMS wasn't really contributing to the party. Then there was Georgia...
Saturday we had plans with my friend, Julian. I've been friends with her since I moved out here almost sixteen years ago. She's always lived on the West Side which is at least 45 minutes from Burbank in L.A. traffic. Now she's moved to the valley and is only about fifteen minutes away. She bought her first house and was excited to show it off to us. We've been trying to go see her for about a month now, but we are always so damn busy. So I decided to take the opportunity, while Andy was gone and nothing major was going on, to take the girls and go for a visit. The plan was to check out her new house then we would all go have lunch after.
So we were running late getting out of the house on Saturday. I'd like to say that's an unusual occurrence, but I'm pretty much always late. I never had this problem until I had three other people to get out of the house along with myself. I was rushing around yelling orders to get on shoes and get to the car. After the third shout, they decided to listen to me. Because really, why should they listen the first time? They were actually all out, in the van, and buckled by the time I locked the door to the house. Well, at least they got IN the car quickly. So off we went.
Fifteen minutes later we pulled up in front of Julian's new place and I told the girls to get out on the passenger side. Sonya was the first one unbuckled and I was taking off my seatbealt I heard her say,
"Georgia, where are your shoes?"
I whipped my head around to look at Georgia's bare feet, then up at her face as she was giving me her "uh-oh" smile and she said,
"Oooops..."
"Ooops?" I said. "You didn't put any shoes on?! Georgia!!"
Now, not that I'm using it as an excuse, BUT let's keep in mind, PMS mom without husband help. I MAY have gotten a tad more mad than I needed to.
"I CAN NOT believe you didn't put shoes on?! What were you thinking?" I asked the very stupid question to a four year old. "You are in BIG trouble right now!" I yelled.
I think part of the reason I was getting so mad was because she wasn't really taking it that seriously. She was laughing about it, up until I told her she was in trouble. Then she cried. Then I felt bad. Shit.
It wouldn't have been a big deal if we weren't planning on going to lunch. I quickly formed a plan in my head to stop at a Payless and buy a cheap pair of shoes before we went out. Problem solved. I guess I didn't need to be so mean. Oh well. Anyway, in we went to see the house. It was very cute and I'm so proud of my friend for taking the big step to buying her own place.
As she was showing us the backyard the girls noticed a little inflatable kiddie pool. Since I was distracted in conversation they decided to take their shoes off, well Sonya and Lana anyway, and stand in the shallow water.
"Please be careful," I said. "I don't have any extra clothes for anyone."
"Okay!" They agreed.
I went back to my conversation with my friend until Sonya yelled,
"GEORGIAAAA!!!"
I turned to see her stand up from her fall in the little pool, her entire backside soaked. SERIOUSLY GEORGIA!! I got a bit annoyed with her again, but contained it more this time. Jules was kind enough to allow us to use her dryer and fortunately, I did have an extra pair of underwear for G in my purse. So while we dried her dress, she had to run around in her underwear.
Then Julian pulled some toys out she has for when he niece comes over. She and I were chatting in the kitchen when Georgia ran in to show us the new outfit she had found among the toys.
Okay, we had a good laugh about that for a bit. I mean the half shirt alone would have done it for me, but that tutu just sent us over the edge. Plus her running in to us yelling "TA-DA!" was a tad bit adorable. I just can not stay mad at that kid.
It was getting late and we needed to get to lunch. Her dress wasn't completely dry, but damp was better than sopping wet. Then we were trying to figure out where a Payless was on the way to the restaurant when Julian asked if she really needed shoes. Huh. She is four and I can still carry her. Screw it. So there I was carrying my damp dressed shoeless Georgia Jackson on my hip in to the diner. At least it was a diner and not some nicer establishment. I don't think anyone even noticed her bare feet. We had an nice, yet uneventful lunch, thank goodness. Well, except for when I had to take Georgia to the bathroom and made her stand on a toilet seat cover because the floor was super gross.
In the end it was a great afternoon, despite Georgia's efforts to sidetrack us. Truthfully, I can't completely blame her for forgetting shoes. First of all, she's four. Sometimes that fact gets forgotten because she has two older sisters who can do more. Second, and this is where it all makes sense, just about every day when we go to pick up her sisters from school she doesn't put on shoes. We just drive up to the school, pick up the girls and go. She never gets out of the car. She always asks when I'm rushing her out the door, "Do I need sthoesh?" and I always tell her not to worry about it and just get in the car. So I suppose I have nobody to blame but myself for her forgetting them when she needed them for real. Her getting wet though, I blame that on Sonya. What? I can't be blamed for everything! I had a missing husband and PMS! That would totally hold up in a court of law.
Saturday we had plans with my friend, Julian. I've been friends with her since I moved out here almost sixteen years ago. She's always lived on the West Side which is at least 45 minutes from Burbank in L.A. traffic. Now she's moved to the valley and is only about fifteen minutes away. She bought her first house and was excited to show it off to us. We've been trying to go see her for about a month now, but we are always so damn busy. So I decided to take the opportunity, while Andy was gone and nothing major was going on, to take the girls and go for a visit. The plan was to check out her new house then we would all go have lunch after.
So we were running late getting out of the house on Saturday. I'd like to say that's an unusual occurrence, but I'm pretty much always late. I never had this problem until I had three other people to get out of the house along with myself. I was rushing around yelling orders to get on shoes and get to the car. After the third shout, they decided to listen to me. Because really, why should they listen the first time? They were actually all out, in the van, and buckled by the time I locked the door to the house. Well, at least they got IN the car quickly. So off we went.
Fifteen minutes later we pulled up in front of Julian's new place and I told the girls to get out on the passenger side. Sonya was the first one unbuckled and I was taking off my seatbealt I heard her say,
"Georgia, where are your shoes?"
I whipped my head around to look at Georgia's bare feet, then up at her face as she was giving me her "uh-oh" smile and she said,
"Oooops..."
"Ooops?" I said. "You didn't put any shoes on?! Georgia!!"
Now, not that I'm using it as an excuse, BUT let's keep in mind, PMS mom without husband help. I MAY have gotten a tad more mad than I needed to.
"I CAN NOT believe you didn't put shoes on?! What were you thinking?" I asked the very stupid question to a four year old. "You are in BIG trouble right now!" I yelled.
I think part of the reason I was getting so mad was because she wasn't really taking it that seriously. She was laughing about it, up until I told her she was in trouble. Then she cried. Then I felt bad. Shit.
It wouldn't have been a big deal if we weren't planning on going to lunch. I quickly formed a plan in my head to stop at a Payless and buy a cheap pair of shoes before we went out. Problem solved. I guess I didn't need to be so mean. Oh well. Anyway, in we went to see the house. It was very cute and I'm so proud of my friend for taking the big step to buying her own place.
As she was showing us the backyard the girls noticed a little inflatable kiddie pool. Since I was distracted in conversation they decided to take their shoes off, well Sonya and Lana anyway, and stand in the shallow water.
"Please be careful," I said. "I don't have any extra clothes for anyone."
"Okay!" They agreed.
I went back to my conversation with my friend until Sonya yelled,
"GEORGIAAAA!!!"
I turned to see her stand up from her fall in the little pool, her entire backside soaked. SERIOUSLY GEORGIA!! I got a bit annoyed with her again, but contained it more this time. Jules was kind enough to allow us to use her dryer and fortunately, I did have an extra pair of underwear for G in my purse. So while we dried her dress, she had to run around in her underwear.
Then Julian pulled some toys out she has for when he niece comes over. She and I were chatting in the kitchen when Georgia ran in to show us the new outfit she had found among the toys.
 |
| You can't tell from this picture, but her that tutu is completely see thru. |
It was getting late and we needed to get to lunch. Her dress wasn't completely dry, but damp was better than sopping wet. Then we were trying to figure out where a Payless was on the way to the restaurant when Julian asked if she really needed shoes. Huh. She is four and I can still carry her. Screw it. So there I was carrying my damp dressed shoeless Georgia Jackson on my hip in to the diner. At least it was a diner and not some nicer establishment. I don't think anyone even noticed her bare feet. We had an nice, yet uneventful lunch, thank goodness. Well, except for when I had to take Georgia to the bathroom and made her stand on a toilet seat cover because the floor was super gross.
In the end it was a great afternoon, despite Georgia's efforts to sidetrack us. Truthfully, I can't completely blame her for forgetting shoes. First of all, she's four. Sometimes that fact gets forgotten because she has two older sisters who can do more. Second, and this is where it all makes sense, just about every day when we go to pick up her sisters from school she doesn't put on shoes. We just drive up to the school, pick up the girls and go. She never gets out of the car. She always asks when I'm rushing her out the door, "Do I need sthoesh?" and I always tell her not to worry about it and just get in the car. So I suppose I have nobody to blame but myself for her forgetting them when she needed them for real. Her getting wet though, I blame that on Sonya. What? I can't be blamed for everything! I had a missing husband and PMS! That would totally hold up in a court of law.
No comments:
Post a Comment