Brain Damage (a time of confession)

I love this bit -- back from a time when standup comedy could be done without so much cursing, and this bit is pretty much true! I love my children so much and am blessed continually by them. But they do show a fair amount of what Cosby calls "brain damage". This, I accept, because they are being trained. It's not a "let kids be kids thing" it's just a "I know they don't know so I'll teach them for these years and show them what is and is not acceptable" thing.

But what do you do when the brain damage is yours???

Two weeks ago, I almost destroyed one of Shelby's beautiful cakes! I was supposed to deliver it, thought she spelled the name on it wrong, hand pieced one letter to "fix" it only to discover I was WRONG (did not double and triple check) and ended up in my kitchen after midnight making decorator's icing and trying to match the shade of pink to a "t". No one noticed, thankfully, but OH MY GOODNESS! What if I had been out of shortening, food coloring, or had not had the right tip? Shelby was so cute, laughing and forgiving me, but I would have beat me up if I were her. I used to bake and sell cakes. You DON'T touch someone else's work, ok? You just don't. Valuable lesson learned. Will not experience brain damage again in this area.

Last week, I broke the computer chair. I use it to teach because I don't want to sit in a hard kitchen chair for too long, so on Monday morning, it comes to the table, and on Friday evening, it returns to the computer desk. It also allows me to roll from child to child without hassle. Daniel was tickling me and I bent the wrong way, slammed against the table, and BAM! The old, flimsy frame bent and I was stuck sideways, wheels turning, Guido and I both howling in laughter and him holding onto my arms to keep me from hitting the ground but I was so weak with laughter I was having trouble pulling out of the chair. Oh, believe me, it was awful. Thank goodness my daddy had an old office chair in his garage that he donated to our school.

Also, the week before last, I was insisting that Addie CANNOT have a cup without a top on it when we're doing school. Too many spills! Who dumped a giant cup of coffee on the table while all the books were on it? Yes, moi. And it went through the seam in the middle of the table and managed to end up ACROSS the table in Carter's chair too. Ugh.

Then, there are instances of me riding bikes in WalMart, dressing up as a gecko to teach a VBS lesson, etc. Oh, the list goes on and on...

I'm sure I can think of a few more and if I do, I'll come back and update, but all I can think is that if the kids have such a brain damaged mother, how can I blame them for their own damage? :)