I just had a mommy moment this morning…

I dressed David for school, or should I say, I tried to get him going when he was obviously still in sleepy mode. He wasn’t cooperating. Jay Jay the Jet Plane was much more interesting than listening to Mommy.

He didn’t want to get dressed. He didn’t want to go to school. Mr. Grumpster (as I call him when he has his moments) wasn’t wanting to do anything…

I got him into the bathroom to brush his teeth and he was unrelenting. Teeth clamped, he wouldn’t open his mouth to let me brush the spots he missed. I said, “David, open your mouth.” like 1,000 times, and he repeated, “Whyeeee???”

Finally after the 10th go-around in this exchange, I yelled, “BECAUSE I SAID SO!”

oh, man….

did I just utter the words I swore I would never say (like my Mom did a million times when I was a kid)??? Words that make no sense to a child, and seem pretty ridiculous as an answer to the question?

I did.

Well, the net-net of it is he finally put his “listening ears” on after that. I rarely raise my voice to him, but I must make a scary impression when I do, because he was fairly cooperative afterwards.

I thought later about it, and when it comes down to it, ya gotta do what works sometimes I guess. It’s odd to think I am only now truly understanding what a MOM is (and how to converse with an independent, curious, and stubborn toddler). Sometimes there just isn’t a good answer to the question, “why?”

Why?

Because I said so.