Adventures Alone: Day 1

Liem: 28 Months
Priscilla: 6 Days

Today is the first day that it is just me and the two children. I am intimidated. But I am Mommy, and I'm in charge and in control . . . right? Thankfully our alone time today is sandwiched between help from Daddy and Grandmommy.

I really believe that parenting is a series of lessons learned by both parents and children. The lessons for parents are, hopefully, one-time lessons; we take them in, repeat the successes and abandon the failures. The lessons for our children, we teach over and over in different ways until they have mastered the lesson. The lessons change over time, and methods are honed, but the lessons continue.

Today, I am afraid the lessons are mostly mine.

Mommy's Lesson 1: Little Ceasar's pizza gives Priscilla an upset stonach. The pizza, of course, came in the form of Mommy's milk ---not the pizza itself. This unfortunate lesson came at 2:30 this morning, and didn't end until 5:30. At 5:30, there was lots of gas and a dirty diaper.

Mommy's Lesson 2: Liem has a weak stomach. It wouldn't have occurred to me until today, but he's never seen another child throw up. He saw me sick a few times early in pregnancy; but for the most part, I distracted him before I took a few minutes to be sick (when I could). For whatever reason, seeing Priscilla spit up (very normal for babies) was different. So when Prissy spit up a little, that sent Liem over the edge. Next thing I knew, my bed held both Priscilla and Liem's breakfasts.

Mommy's Lesson 3: Just keep the two year old in the bathroom with you. I'm always trying to convince Liem that he doesn't need to come to the bathroom with me. Today, I succeeded. I won't do this again. When I came out, he was "washing" both his and Priscilla's hands with the soap he had swiped when I wasn't looking.

Liem's Lesson: Soap is only for the sink; and Prissy doesn't need it yet.

It's only 10:30 a.m. and there's time for many more lessons today. But maybe school is out for the day . . . I hope.