Absent Minded Moments - Parenting Plights & Delights

Let's face it, parenting requires a lot of energy. Mothers pour their hearts and souls into their children's lives. Fatigue causes many absent minded goof-ups.


Here are some of the answers I received when I asked moms I know to finish this sentence: You know you're overtired and need a break when:


You buy a week's worth of groceries, load them in the trunk, hop into the passenger seat, and wait for your husband to get in and drive when you suddenly realize you're by yourself. 


You turn down an aisle in the supermarket and go to reach for a turn signal on your shopping cart.


You get upset with your child for doing something you disapprove of, but they tell you that you gave them permission. You then recall giving them permission and wonder why you did. 


You're about to cook a meal and open a package of food. You throw the food item in the trash and put the wrapper on the counter. After a lengthy search for the food item, you realize what you did, but have no recollection of throwing the food away. 


You put diaper ointment on your toothbrush. 


You spray hairspray under your armpits. 


You tell the friend you're talking to on the phone, "Hang on a minute," and go to do something. Then you forget all about the friend you left hanging on the phone. 


You put the dry cereal in the refrigerator and the milk in the cupboard.


Here's an incident from years ago when cell phones were much bigger: You grab your cell as you're rushing to the school office. Once there, you set your cell on the counter, waiting for the secretary to help you. She looks at you with a puzzled expression and asks why you brought your remote control.


You're in a hurry and drive through a fast food restaurant to get a quick dinner for the family. You pay for the order and get halfway home when you realize you drove off without the food. 


You pay the cashier at the gas station for $25 of gas on pump #3. As you're driving down the freeway a couple miles down the road, you realize you forgot to pump the gas.



You have a hectic day running many errands. When you get home, you put your feet up to sit back and relax. You're horrified when you look down and notice that you're wearing two different shoes.


People ask how old your baby is. You answer,  "He's a seven-month-year-old. You realize you misspoke and added the word "year," but you still say it every time someone asks.


Your lips are chapped. You grab a tube of chapstick off the kitchen counter and apply it to your lips as your husband stands there gawking at you in disbelief. Then you notice that you used your six-year-old's glue stick, not chapstick.


So, moms, when you find yourself doing silly things, rest assured that you're not alone. I hope you have a wonderful, relaxing Mother's Day.

Here's my mom with Punkin, 

one of her six great-grandchildren. 

Happy Mother's Day, Mom! 

We love you! XOXO

Have you done any nutty things, due to fatigue? Or do you have a special memory of your mother that you'd like share? I love to hear your comments!

 If you have a parenting or grandparenting story 

relating to any topic, I'd love to hear form you. 

If you're not a parent, memories from your own childhood count, too! 

Warning: I might feature your story in a future post. 

(Names can be changed to protect the guilty!)

My thanks to everyone who has contributed to this series. 

These posts wouldn't be the same without your input.

If you don't want to leave a comment but would rather contact me by email, 

here's my address: lynkelwoohoo at yahoo dot com. 

No Ifs, Ands, or Head Butts - Parenting Plights & Delights

I recently posted this comment on my Facebook page:

"Today a grandmother got headbutted twice by her grandson. Then he grabbed a chunk of skin on her neck and pinched her and spit in her face and laughed his head off. 

"That grandmother is me and it was my six-month-old grandbaby...."

Did you know that a ten-pound baby's headbutt has enough force to break your nose? Yep, it's true. I bet many of you have some good headbutt stories to share!

Punkin was falling asleep at my birthday dinner. 

You'd never guess he can be such a feisty little guy.

I asked my friends if they had any experience in the headbutting department and got some good responses:

Tami Cubillas said: "Oh yeah! Shane headbutted me backwards when he was little and now I have a deviated septum... Not fun nor nice!"

Here's Tami with Shane on his 16th birthday. 

Those head butt days are long gone.

Delores Cervera said: "Lynn, yours and my granddaughter gave us many star-seeing headbutts that brought tears to your eye. And when she'd grab your face with both hands and her mouth open, you didn't know if she wanted to kiss you or bite you...Babies are the most wonderful things that God could ever give you."

Delores and her granddaughter, now two years old. 

(She's my darling granddaughter, too.) 

Little Twinkle Eyes looks perfectly harmless to me!

Ashlee Craig said: "Hawk is like a pin ball machine. He goes side to side trying to knock his brother, sister, dad and I out. He laughs the whole time. At first it was funny but now we all have headaches."

The Craig family

Baby Hawk loves to play head games!

My sister-in-law, Debbie, said: "The hardest thing EVER to watch is when these little ones are doing their 'tummy-time' and headbutt the floor! I have laminate flooring and, of course, use a double layer of comforters but still: so hard to see this happen."

My brother, Jeff, came up with an easy solution: "Just duct tape a pair of socks to their foreheads and let them do their thing." 

I'd like to see that idea put into practice. Not! :)

Debbie with her two grandchildren,

(my great-nephew and great-niece).

So far I've done pretty good dodging Punkin's headbutts. The two he gave me weren't full force. I can't afford to have a tooth knocked out or my jaw broken, so I'm super careful. I learned the hard way years ago when my middle daughter was two and headbutted me. I was lying on the couch and she was standing on the floor in front of me. I was dozing off and then, BAM! It felt like a stick of dynamite ignited on my left eye. 

She had thrown herself backwards (just for fun) and nailed me with the back of her head. I screamed and scared the heck out of her. She ran upstairs and hid in her room while I continued to freak out. In this photo, the black eye is almost gone. It took three days for it to even show up - a deep blue and purple, as I remember. 

The ironic part is that back then I did volunteer work a couple hours a week at a home for battered women. When Sister Clare, the director, saw my black eye, she frowned and asked what happened.

I explained how my two-year-old headbutted me. Sister Clare didn't believe me. I knew she thought my husband was abusive. She questioned me further, and I told her that I sat my daughter on my lap and had my husband take a picture to put in her baby book. Sister believed me at last. 

My daughter is 26 now. My left eye often throbs if I have a sinus headache. It's been extra sensitive ever since that injury. 

Have you ever been on the wrong end of a head butt?

Do you have a parenting or grandparenting memory

or another story you'd like to share? 

If you're not a parent, memories from your own childhood count, too! 

Warning: I might feature your story in a future post. 

(Names can be changed to protect the guilty!)

I'd like to thank all those who have shared their stories. 

These posts wouldn't be the same without your input.

If you don't want to leave a comment but would rather contact me by email, 

here's my address: lynkelwoohoo at yahoo dot com.

Embarrassing Moments - Parenting Plights & Delights

Ginger Calem left a comment on my Holiday Shopping With Kids post that still makes me chuckle every time I think of it. Here's a photo of her little darling when she was a little older than the incident Ginger shared with us. 

Ginger has a few nicknames for her daughter:
Little Pip, Sassy-Pants, Bossy-boots, to name a few!

Here's Ginger's parenting comment:

Ah … kids! Being embarrassed by them in public is part of a parent's initiation to the big leagues! Here's the first grocery store one that popped into my head. I was shopping with my very young daughter who was in the early stages of talking. I took her temperature that morning and announced she was running a fever, low-grade, no big deal. Off to the store we go. In the feminine product aisle (no less!) we pass two senior citizen women who smiled at my daughter and exclaimed how cute she was. My darling daughter announced in an alarmingly articulate manner, "I have a beaver." No amount of shh'ing or repeating 'fever' would stop her from telling everyone about her beaver. Then she asked for a Dora balloon, the one with a dick. STICK, honey, a stick. Yes, I want it with the dick. *Sigh*

Pat O'Dea Rosen said: My parents told a story about toddler me panicking at the top of a down escalator and clinging to my dad's khaki-clad leg. Unfortunately, the leg didn't belong to my dad, but to a guy too kind to shake off a scared kid.


Stephanie D. said: I was shopping with Peanut at Target when she was about 2-ish (and super talkative). We passed the bra aisle and she yells out, "Look, mom, there are your boobies!"

Stephen Tremp said:

What comes to mind was our littlest girl going to the bathroom at Souplantation all by herself. She ran up to our table and exclaimed, "Mom, dad, you have to see my poop. It's enormous!" Then she ran back to the bathroom with such pride. The whole restaurant, including us, burst out laughing.


Jennette Marie Powell said:
First story that comes to my mind is one of the "kids say the darndest things" variety: When my daughter was five or six, my mom took her to the kids' discovery museum. When they got to the insect exhibit, my daughter saw the roaches and said, "Look, Grandma, just like at your house!" My mom (who honest, is a very good housekeeper!) was totally mortified! I was LOL! 


Ah, kids, gotta love 'em!

So, do you have an embarrassing parenting or grandparenting incident

or another story you'd like to share? 

If you're not a parent, memories from your own childhood count, too! 

Warning: I might feature your story in a future post. 

(Names can be changed to protect the guilty!)

I'd like to thank those who shared a parenting story with me last week. 

I'm saving them and will publish some in future posts.

If you don't want to leave a comment but would rather contact me by email, 

here's my address: lynkelwoohoo at yahoo dot com.