Mothers’ Morning Out

Or is that Mother’s? One would assume that it’s for more than one mother, hence “Mothers’ Morning Out,” but usually people put the apostrophe in the other position. I think mine is correct.

Do normal people fret about these sorts of things? No? Oh, shut up.

This morning I took the girls to MOTHERS’ Morning Out at church, and I have to say, I absolutely LOVE the women that run that. They took the kids out to the playground and Wore. Them. Out. But they didn’t let Alice go to sleep — they kept her happy and stimulated until I got back to pick them up at almost noon. It was fabulous. And I fed both of them crackers in the car on the way home to keep them both awake, gave them lunch when we got home so their tummies would be full, and now I’m getting a simultaneous nap. What a blessing.

I gave Miss Arlyn (the head of the nursery) a hug for keeping Alice awake and happy like that.

The only thing that didn’t work perfectly is that Helen has Public Pee Fright, and will hold it until her bladder ruptures or Mommy gets there, whichever comes first. But she will NOT go to the bathroom for someone else except Daddy or a grandmother. Well, we have managed to talk her into going potty at Miss Marcia’s, her playschool. But it took some brainwashing. And she doesn’t always cooperate. This is impressive, because it means she’s holding it for over three hours… Maybe not that impressive in normal dehydrated children, but Helen drinks excessively… When I get her around noon, she always pees forEVER.

*sigh*

My mother apparently had Pee Fright as a child. I did not, as far as I know. Not sure about Jerry. He never went into the restroom at his high school, and he’s very proud of that fact. But boys’ (there’s that pesky apostrophe again) restrooms in high school are typically very nasty, so I can understand why he wouldn’t want to.

Poor Helen. So many neuroses, so little time…