Nothing is as wonderful, full of joy and happiness, and as rewarding as being a parent. Nothing is as scary, full of frustration and more frustration, and as (worth noting again) frustrating as being a parent.
Yesterday I took Clare and our dog, Molly, outside to play in the late afternoon light. I was so excited. They were so excited. There were birds chirping and for a brief and wonderful moment all was right with the world. I looked out at my loving daughter and spry dog and thought, "isn't this heavenly". Then my moment was over. Clare was no longer content to play in the yard and Molly decided that it was time to take off. In tandem, they both took off for the street in opposite directions. In front of our house my wonderful neighbor, John, watched on with what appeared to be a mix of confusion and laughter. When it all became too much and I must have resembled something like that of a wobbling top spinning from one side of the street to the other alternating between "MOLLY NO!" and "CLARE NO!" and "No really ,John, I've got it all under control", he graciously helped me walk my deaf dog and kicking and screaming toddler back to my house from a few houses down the street. Once we were in the safety of the garage, I gently set my child down, picked up my self respect, started to thank John for his help and then immediately lost control of the situation again because of the fact that I put the kicking and screaming body that looked like Clare down. Sensing an opportunity to return to her new extreme sport of car dodging, she took off out of the garage, up the driveway and headed toward the street.
Guess what I was doing? "CLARE NO!" "CLARE STOP!" "I MEAN IT CLARE, STOP!". "MOMMY'S NOT KIDDING, I MEAN STOP!" All the while running in a full sprint to catch her before she ran into the road.
Any guesses as to what she did not do?