gnarly things my toddler did recently

after running around DC all day, hitting traffic at every turn, i was finally home. as i shut the car door i started thinking about what to make for dinner since i hadn't had the energy to plan ahead the night before or morning of. as soon as i opened the sliding glass door a wave of "oh no" smacked me dead in the face. my toddler was running around like a madman with no shirt on, toys were scattered everywhere, dishes piled up in the sink and a new pile of baby clothes covered in either food, spit up or poop. i greeted our nanny, who by the way is amazing, at the playroom door to ask how the day went. she proceeded to tell me the downstairs toilet wasn't working because my son had flushed a few toy cars down it. also, he had gone into my husband and i's bedroom and completely dumped every piece of jewelry in my jewelry box out onto our carpet floor. i had no words because what in the actual farquad. i called my MIL and FIL who have experience with ripping up and resetting toilets in hopes we could get a head start on getting that squared away before my husband was home and the whole evening wasn't wasted away on that. while my in-laws made their way over, i proceeded to try and piece together my jewelry, of course now my 8-month-old was crying bloody murder because i was home and not holding her. my in-laws arrive, they get the toilet up and it turns out a few toy cars was actually nine. these are the moments where i can't help but say "why me".

that same weekend i took 30 minutes to run up to the grocery store and when i came back my poor husband looked so defeated. he went upstairs to change the baby and came downstairs to red stamp marks everywhere and our toddler on the toilet, having just pooped, trying to wipe his bottom with his hand. sigh. these are the moments where i can't help but say "this is why i should never leave the house".

the following weekend we were attempting to clean the house - FYI expecting moms, rooms usually end up taking turns being clean, and that's okay. - anyways, i was upstairs, my husband downstairs, we had the baby napping, and we thought, our toddler playing in his playroom. all of a sudden i hear my husband shout "CREW, WHAT HAPPENED?", i ran downstairs as fast as i could. our sweet boy had somehow opened the cabinet that holds the olive oil and decided to have himself a time shaking it everywhere and i mean everywhere. if you've ever found yourself in this predicament then you know, it is actually comical to cleanup. it just keeps spreading. our kitchen received the moisturizing treatment of its dreams. but these are the moments where i laugh because i realize my toddler is just that, a toddler. he is figuring out life just as i am figuring out motherhood, in all its glory.

so, if you are a mom to a toddler and feel like they do the most unimaginable things, just know, mine does too. on a more serious note, it is so important that we give ourselves grace in these moments of chaos but even more important we give that same grace to them. after all, just as they are learning what to do and what not to do, so are we.

with love,

Sarah