Invitation Revoked

My invitation to the Mother of the Year luncheon was recently revoked. It all happened so fast. In a few short hours I went from being a potential Parental Genius nominee, praise and adoration sure to follow, to not even being allowed to sit at the cool mom lunch table (much less show my face at all.)

To transfer blame, I am placing it squarely on the shoulders of progress and curiosity. These two culprits have catapulted my daughter from stationary, easily amused baby to constant movement, "one-touch-is-never-enough" toddler. Last weekend she was peacefully observing the world in the grocery cart, happily collecting the fruits and vegetables I would place around her.

This weekend, she just had to try and reach for something on the shelf. And she just had to accomplish this by standing up in the cart. And gravity just had to exist at that exact moment to flip her out of said cart onto the impending concrete floor below. Good thing her head broke the fall.

The worst part is that I was standing right next to her. Unfortunately Usain Bolt and I do not share the same DNA. (Yes I DID just Google "fastest man alive" for the purposes of this blog. No I do not randomly store that kind of information in my head.)

Anyway, she cried, I consoled and it was over much faster than I had expected and she seemed to not suffer any kind of permanent injury. So we went home... where she promptly climbed up onto my bed and tried to jump off. Good thing her head broke the fall.

SERIOUSLY KID?

She cried, I consoled and even the second time around it was over much faster than I had anticipated. I distracted her with a new project; she quickly set to work helping Mommy put together a small shelf. She has a fascination with stacking and piecing together different objects. She knows exactly what to do when I hand her a hammer or screwdriver. "What a great project to get her mind off of what will soon become a monster headache" I thought. Then I noticed the screw and piece of plastic she had swishing around in her mouth.

SERIOUSLY KID?

That was our Saturday. Yes, it is already Tuesday, but it has taken me this long to come out of the rock I crawled under. Now we have a long weekend coming up... who knows what kind of trouble we could get into!

Flood Relief

With all of the recent flooding in the mid-Tennessee region, I have been giving a lot of thought to natural disasters. Not in the Chicken Little "the sky is falling" sort of way, but really just to make sure that in case of an emergency, we are prepared. Natural disasters are not something I have ever planned for before. I am not really sure why, except for the excuse that life gets in the way. But, as the saying goes, you just NEVER KNOW. Why not be prepared? Now my preparedness tool kits are stashed all over the house.

There is a tornado kit tucked away under the bathroom sink in our guest bath. The last time we had immanent tornado threats I had to sit in that bathroom with Addie and the three dogs. I lasted about 20 minutes. In that time I gave serious consideration as to what would be a more gruesome way to perish - death by dog breath or getting sucked up in a funnel cloud. I took my chances and opened the door. This reminds me I need to add face mask to that kit, just in case we are all stuck in the room together again.

We have a fire bag strategically placed and ready to go. Let's just hope the fire doesn't originate in the garage... then I'd be screwed.

Of course now we have a flood kit as well. That one I have up on the second floor. Still contemplating whether or not I am going to put an inflatable raft up there too. We'll see.

I'll end with one great little anecdote regarding the flood. On the news one night, the reporter was discussing the devastation and how many people had been displaced from their homes. In the corner of the screen you see an opossum standing at the swollen riverbank. Obviously this mama saw safety on the other side of this raging water. As ugly and nasty as those little creatures are, my mama gut cried out, "Don't do it! Not safe! Think of your children!" Next thing you know, her five little critters hop on her back and she dives in the water paddling with a strength only the good Lord could give her. All her little babies were straining their necks trying to stay as upright as possible. After what seemed like an eternity, that strong mommy opossum and her little ones were safe on the other side and they head on out.

Just like a mama to dive in unknown waters, facing the upstream current, all for her little creepy critters. I love it.