Day: June 21, 2004

Well I’ve achieved another parental rite of passage. Gleek swallowed a toy. Okay, it was a piece of a board game, but it is still a new experience for all involved. I’ve had kids eat crayons before, but those are at least semi-digestable. Fortunately the gamepiece in question was a small round glass stone, unlikely to get stuck or to cause damage on the way down.

Gleek was very concerned about the turn of events. Her eyes were about twice their normal size and she kept touching her throat as if she couldn’t quite believe it happened. Toys aren’t supposed to do that kind of thing. So now I have a lap-Gleek who needs reassurance that All Will Be Well.

What amazes me when I think about it is that I’ve been a parent for over nine years without once having a child swallow a toy. To read the warnings on toy boxes it seems as if toys are just lying in wait to jump down small throats. But if I’m inclined to feel smug about my former record I only have to remember that there are many many parents in the world who’ve never been to the emergency room to have objects removed from a child’s nose.

Today we went to a relative’s house to pick strawberries. All the kids were thrilled to go. And once they got there Patches stayed interested long enough to eat a strawberry and tromple plants. Gleek picked a dozen strawberries and wandered off to play. Link did the same thing, only he picked about 20 berries. Kiki loved it. She picked baskets full. And then she was really excited that we had enough to make strawberry jam. I could tell that the jam-making would have to begin the moment we got home or I’d be pestered unceasingly. This necessitated a trip to the grocery store for a few supplies.

Taking all four kids to the grocery store is not on my favorite-things-to-do list. I usually have to plan ahead and get myself in a journey-not-destination frame of mind. I also try to cultivate a spirit of calmness for when the fail to do what they said they would (I’ll stay right by the cart.) This frame of mind was not going to happen today. I needed to grab the groceries and get home so Patches could go down for his nap. We got in and out in 30 minutes, not to bad for a 10 item shopping trip with four kids. While we were buckling back up in the car Kiki said “Mom why are you mad?”

I explained to her that I wasn’t mad. I was just wearing my Business Mommy Face because Things Needed Done.
“Oh. I don’t like your Business Mommy Face.” She thought a moment more and added. “I made a promise to my (future) kids that I would always be a nice mom. But mom’s sometimes HAVE to be mean, don’t they?” Hallelujah! She gets it!

We arrived home and hauled kids, groceries, baskets, and strawberries all inside. Then Kiki and Link ran off to a neighbor’s lured by the promise of swimming. So much for strawberry jam.