Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Well behaved women rarely make history...

I have a confession to make.  My name is Nikki and my daughter behaves badly in public.  Oh, and I don't always handle it well. 

We have had several decent outings lately so I got a little too brave!

Tonight we went to a school board meeting where Noah was being recognized as part of the championship football team.  In what can only be described as a moment of delirium, I had the silly idea that we could bring AnnaLauren along.  The recognitions lasted about 45 minutes.  AnnaLauren's good behavior lasted about 5 minutes.  So, as the school board did things like recognize the Teacher of the Year and a child who won the National Punt, Pass and Kick Contest, my child twisted, spun, ran around, cried, went potty, looked outside, fussed at her dad and made me ashamed.  And, instead of becoming Super Mom and handling the situation, I floundered.  I begged, I pleaded, I took her to the restroom and popped her bottom (yep, I am an occasional spanker), and lastly watched her walk around and around a basketball goal.  I refused to leave because I really wanted to see Noah recognized.  But, it was definitely not one of my best parenting moments.

AnnaLauren is my "Spirited Child" - my MIL actually bought me a book with that title and it really does descibe AnnaLauren.  She is loud, rambunctious and the center of attention.  In the moment, when she is acting like a wild thing, I want to melt into the floor.  But later on, like now, I realize that even though I don't have a Super Mom cape, I'm a pretty darn good mom.  And even though AnnaLauren is not always well behaved, she lives with such joy that she makes everyone around her smile.  And for me, that is enough.

9 comments:

  1. Thanks for stopping by! I usually bring a bag of tricks with me to occupy my daughter if I know I'm going to be out for a while. It usualy consists of snacks, coloring book, stickers and anything that might keep her quite for as long as possible.

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  2. Stopping by from SITS. Sounds like your sweet little girl is going to be the source of many "Can you believe when you were little you did____" and she'll laugh along with y'all when she gets older.

    When my niece gets to wiggily we give her a coloring book or one of those books you can put stickers on the pages and move them around (not sure what they are called). It keeps her pretty quiet.

    Good luck.

    I hope you have a happy and blessed day!
    xo,KA

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  3. My younger sister was like this. Now that she's a grown up she's still a force of nature, but isn't completely out of control.

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  4. Don't worry, to your little girl, you'll always be Super Mom!

    Have a great day SITSa!

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  5. My daughter was like this and now she a pharmacist! I love strong minded women. They rock.
    Mary

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  6. Hi Nikki! I don't know how to contact you other than this!! Ha! I don't know if you saw my site yet or not, but YOU ARE THE WINNER!!! Email me and lets chat about what you'd like!

    Thanks!
    Rachael
    Due South Designs of Atlanta

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  7. Just loved this post... coming from SITS. Random, but are you going to Bloggy Boot Camp in Baltimore?

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  8. Spirited is a great word for kids like AnnaLauren. They don't mean to be trouble and have overflowing amounts of personality. She is going to be so much fun as she gets older!

    Thanks for visiting my blog!

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  9. Hey - at least she is going potty!!! That's more than I can say for Asher!

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