Wednesday, October 13, 2010

probably not a coincidence

Tonight about 5 I was done being a mom to my child. I had no patience, all I wanted was 5 minutes to clear my head, but she would have none of it. She was there, wanted my attention, my time, and I had none. I told her this repeatedly, but she just stuck around wanted to be with me. I went to get something out of the backpack/diaper bag, and she decided that it looked interesting, so started to go through the pockets. A moment to myself, it's about time.

A few moments later she brought in the gift card envelope that was in one of the pockets. "Mom, I brought you a present." "Thank you" I dutifully replied, then realized something was in it. I looked, it was a frequent shopper reward card. I smiled at her ability to stick the card in, and set it down. I was still desperate for some more minutes. "Let's go get more presents," she suggested. "You go get more presents," I urged.

She came back a few moments later, with the same envelope. This time it contained the shopper card and my credit card. "I brought you a present mom. It will make you happy."

What? Oh, I know where she got the idea, her daddy taught her presents make people happy, specifically in the context of my birthday. And I'm pretty sure any time she found that envelope with its festive nature she would have played a game of giving presents, she's pretty big into that right now. But no matter how hard I try, I can't shake the idea that she knew I was unhappy, and the present was the best way she could think to change that. Thanks.