In Which I Am Forced To Recant My Happy Story...

Yup, it was nice while it lasted, the whole Happy SAHM gig. The mercurial guy known in these parts as Baby Duck woke up at an unseemly hour this morning, and he's been mad ever since. I think he's catching another cold, or else it's seasonal allergies, who knows, but he's not at all happy about the situation. Which means Mommy's not allowed to be happy, either.

The high spot of the day came at 6:30 this morning, when he insisted the only thing that would help him feel better was a car ride. During the car ride we saw a fleet of dump trucks. Since then, things have gone downhill quite rapidly. Liam has refused to go outside. He has refused a nap. He has refused his favorite toys, except for a wooden elephant, which was lobbed at the poor dog. He has even refused food. (That is actually not an entirely bad thing, since we have very little food in the house, and a certain little boy is refusing to go to the grocery store.) You get the drift?

And now, to make things worse, I'm overwhelmed with Mommy Guilt. About 30 minutes ago I was about to lose my temper over more toy throwing, so I stepped out of the room for a minute. Liam came running after me in a panic saying, "Come, Mommy. Mommy stay. Baby Duck isn't so happy today. Mommy give Baby Duck a great big hug!" I picked him up, we hugged, and he fell asleep on my shoulder. And now he looks so sweet and precious all curled up asleep, and I feel bad because I walked away from him.

So I'm forced to revise my thoughts about the whole SAHM gig. It's a great job, but the bad days are Really Bad. No corporate manager could get away with treating colleagues the way toddlers can treat their moms. There are laws about that, I think.

I'm off to get a cup of tea and remember that the good about this job far outweighs the bad. For the most part.