Come, Mommy

It’s a lousy picture, I know, but I got it on the fly with my cell phone. Kieran had been asleep before dinner, and he was cranky and angry all through dinner because we woke him up to eat (and also to keep him from sleeping through the evening and getting up for the day at 4:00 AM). He really was a sight with his crazy messed-up curly bedhead, spaghetti sauce stained shirt, and a face tear-stained from a reprimand delivered for throwing food at the dinner table. We all ate quickly while keeping an eye out for flying tortellinis.

Any experienced parent knows those kinds of dinners – the ones where the best thing to do is end the meal as quickly as possible, preferably before someone gets injured by a flying fork. And tonight I really thought that we were going down the road to the Witching Hour in Chaos City.

Thankfully, I was wrong. And in fact, tonight turned out to be a night where it was just plain fun to be the mother of two small boys.  The fun was started by a surprise find during my weekly grocery shopping trip.

I went shopping this morning and discovered that our usually plain Jane grocery store had pulled out all the stops for Valentine’s Day. Flowers lined many aisles, and fresh chocolate-dipped strawberries and blueberries were available in the produce department. I bought a small platter of fresh blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries, and then asked the produce clerk to add some of the chocolate-dipped berries. Anticipating happy smiles at a happy family dinner, I made my way home with the chocolates safely tucked up front with me instead of leaving it in the back where a falling milk carton could crush it.

Then, as is often the case with daydreams, real life intruded, this time in the form of Mr. Cranky, age 2.5 years. Our usually sunny and hug-crazy Kieran woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. He was cranky and touchy for much of the day, and to make matters worse, he decided that he would refuse most offers of food. By late afternoon he was tired, and a stop for a quick nursing session ended up as a nap.

By dessert time, Kiri was clearly a tired, tired, tired boy, and he barely managed a smile when we brought out the chocolate. He ate some of the fresh berries, and was about to start throwing food again when Liam handed him a chocolate dipped blueberry. He popped it into his mouth. His face lit up at the first bite, and the tears stopped. It soon became obvious that the usual sweet and huggy Kieran was back amongst us. After eating some more berries and a bit more chocolate his recovery was complete. He hugged his dog, and then turned to hug me. After that, he disappeared upstairs in search of more huggable people.

And now my children have learned a Big Important Life Lesson – sometimes a bit of chocolate and some hugs can dry more tears than can a box of tissues.

Happy Valentine’s Day, Everyone!