Learning Lessons From 2010

This post is part of Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop. I chose the prompt: "What happened in 2010 that you'd rather not repeat?"



I swear that each morning when I hear the shuffling foot steps coming down the stairs that I will be greeting  my own Jolly Green Giant. I don't know what is in our water, but according to the pencil marks that adorn our basement door, displaying height marks etched for the past 10 years, we should maybe switch to milk. Something to stop this madness!  

I learned the hard way that the side effects of said sudden growth spurts should be monitored with a close eye...because in 2010 I failed in that department. Not once, but TWICE! I sure hope that I don't repeat this in 2011, and I am sure that my son feels the same way.

And here is why:

Lesson One: The Band Concert

My Husband had been traveling quite a bit and I had started a new job. Time was tight when it came to after-school activities and trying to be two places at once. Well, not at once, but pretty darn close to it. Trying to get the household accustomed to the new schedule, I tried my best to arrange our time and places and honestly what I came up with worked well....on paper at least. On this particular day, our son had a band concert and our daughter a track meet. To make sure that my master timing plan would go off without a hitch, I asked our son to lay out his clothes the night before so that I could just grab-n-go that morning on my way to work. So, our late afternoon/evening would run as such:
- Pick up our son a little early from school (which lets out later than our daughter's)
-Meet dad (who just arrived from the airport) at the track meet.
-Cheer on sis
-After meet, dad and sis run to Panera to pick up dinner and meet us back in school cafeteria.
-Between the track and cafeteria, son to do his best superhero and change in the back of the car.
-Have dinner in cafeteria
-Because of being in school already, son is early for pre-prep concert rehearsal.
-Dad, sis and I get seats in the auditorium, affording prime waving and picture taking spots in audience.

Smooth like clockwork....until there was a glitch in the system.

As our son was getting ready in the car, he said:

S: "Mom. You grabbed the wrong clothes!"
M: "What do you mean I grabbed the wrong clothes? I grabbed what was on your bed."
S: "Well, then you grabbed the wrong shirt!"
M: "There was only one set of clothes on the bed."

With that, I looked in the back seat to a kid a shirt size, maybe two, too small. The sleeves barely making it to mid-forearm length!

M: "What the heck?! That is the same shirt you wore to the Christmas concert only a few months ago!"
S: "Can we please go get a new one?"
M: "No. We don't have time. You will have to roll up your sleeves."
S: "I don't want to wear it like that! It will look stupid!"
M: "You CAN'T wear it like that! You are going to have to roll them."

Not only were the sleeves too short, but the shirt was just able to stay buttoned. If he held his breath he would be just fine. How is that going to be possible? He has to play a wind instrument!

It felt like our own twisted version of A Christmas Story...don't breathe or else you will shoot someone's eye out (with popping buttons!)! Should I warn the first row?

Bad Mother of the Year!

Lesson Two: Sneakers

After said band concert, you would think that I would take inventory of any other piece of clothing that may have gotten too small. Nope. Never even crossed my mind.

Fast forward to the last week of school.

S: "Mom. I need new sneakers."
M: "OK. Since it's the last week of school, can we wait til Friday and we can go then?"
S: "Sure. No problem. Thanks Mom."

Friday rolls around and when I got home from work, off to the mall we went to look for new shoes.

We looked through every style that donned the shelves. Finally, my son found a pair he liked and tried them on.

S: "Ahhhhh. Oh, man, these feel GREAT. Soooooo much better. I can move my toes again."
M: "Oh, good. Wait. What do you mean 'you can move your toes again?' What size are they?"

He hands me the box and on his now happy feet are size 11. I grab the tattered shoe that is lying on its side and see on the back of the tongue that is is a size 9. NINE????!!!! His toes must have been folded in half!

M: "Oh my goodness! WHY didn't you tell me BEFORE that these were so small?! How long have they been like this?"
S: Shrugs shoulders. "I dunno."

Another nomination for Bad Mother of the Year! Please don't let these mommy faux-pas repeat themselves again this year! I think I have learned my lesson!

My son can only hope.