Saturday, November 8, 2008
Scam Job
So lately every time I leave the house (with Lauren still in it), we get a flood of tears with:
“MOMMY, I am going to MISS YOU!”
We also get it when Darrell goes out to dinner or leaves for an early (meaning pre-9 AM) meeting.
“I miss DADDY!”
When I went to DC for the marathon there were lots of tears before I left and while I was gone. And this is while they were with Grandma, shopping, sewing, eating cookies and cupcakes, making crafts and generally being loved with time and attention! Then what do you think happened when I returned and Grandma left?
“I MISS GRANDMA!”
Tonight we had a babysitter for the first time in 6 months (or more?) so we could go to a surprise party. We had tears leading up to the babysitters arrival and, of course, once she arrived.
“Mommy, I am going to MISS YOU!”
“I don’t want to read any books. I just want to go to bed.”
I was good though...
“Lauren, Darya is in charge. You can tell her what you need. We are going to go now.”
And then the 25 minute car ride...
“Darrell, what did I do wrong? Why don’t they love the babysitters? Most kids can’t wait for the babysitters to come? I wasn’t even that nice to them today. Did I shelter them too much? Are they insecure because I am gone too much? Do they need prozac? Tubes in their ears? Did I feed them too much dairy? Sugar? Corn syrup? Red dye #12? Too much tuna in the diet when I was pregnant? ARGH!”
“Honey...did you say something? I am sorry I was just thinking about how Penn State lost in the last 5 seconds of the game and now they can’t go to the championship. I can’t BELIEVE THAT! ARGH!”
So we go the party...me with the weight of the world of 2 children on my shoulders and Darrell with the burden of a lost football team. And we had a great time!
And what do you suppose the babysitter told us when we returned?
“They were fine the moment you walked downstairs to leave. Sabrina fell right asleep (she was exhausted) and Lauren read to me for a while. Then we played with her barbies and had a great time.”
Once more I played the part of the hyped-up super-sensitive, guilt-ridden easily fooled mother while they have a ball with the babysitter. Nice.
