Mommy Truths: Motherhood Ain’t Easy….

We took Pookah to the Aquarium on Sunday.

I had been talking it up for weeks, and everyday he would ask: “We go see the fish?”

Finally, I said yes. We were so excited! We waited until he had his nap and the lines died down on Sunday afternoon before we went…it was perfect.

Then, we got in the museum.

And my child LOST HIS MIND.

I mean, it was a total meltdown of the likes I have never seen before.

A meltdown of EPIC proportions.

He screamed, he hollered, he yelled “NO”, he fell down boneless on the floor.

I just couldn’t understand it.

Where was my calm, happy child?

I admit at this point, C-Dub and I were ready to forget about the $70 we just spent to get in ( plus the $10 parking) and just drag his butt home.

I mean really, can you imagine the LOOKS we were getting? Some of pity, some of disgust, some..I don’t know. I stopped noticing.

Finally though, it dawned on me that this was not rational behavior.

My child is high spirited( and yes, sometimes he misbehaves badly. Yeah I said it), but he does not usually act THIS way.

EVER.

Something was wrong.

Finally I took him to a calm quiet corner and simply asked:

“What’s wrong baby? Are you OK?”

“NOOOOOOO” he cried. “I scared.”

My God, I felt like such a failure as a mommy at that moment. I had made a quick judgement based on how I was feeling and hadn’t stopped to think about my child.

It was all about me, how I was taking him to the aquarium, ME patting myself on the back for doing something educational with my child. ME being upset and embarrased because said child was not acting the way I wanted him too.

I took a deep breath and tried to calmed him down.

I had to carry all 37 solid pounds of my boy around for about 30 minutes until he calmed down. In a gentle voice I told him the fish wouldn’t hurt him. They were behind the glass. Finally he calmed down enough to actually look. Then, he calmed down enough to actually smile. And finally, he calmed down enough to actually laugh and enjoy himself.

We took a break, had dinner ( another $30, but who’s counting at this point) and saw a few more exhibits before I saw he had had enough and we left to go home.

After C-Dub and I put him to bed, we both had drinks. BIG ones filled with unusual amounts of Ciroc.

Sigh.

Who said motherhood was easy?