Severe Case of Mommy Brain

As many of you Mommies out there can attest, we most definitely lose our brains from the moment our kids enter our lives. It's not even a gradual thing. Just like that, it's gone. My sister-in-law, Elisabeth, sent me an interesting email recently about one mother and the crazy names she has accidentally called her children and the silly things she has told them to do. Well, I could totally relate to this.

Take today, for instance. After a long night with a sick and grumpy daughter, I'm trying my best to function. Cotter decides to open the door to the laundry room, which houses our cat's litter box and thus stays closed for Kaitlyn's sake. (Thankfully, the cat has learned how to "ask" us to open the door.) So, I call out to Cotter, "Kaitlyn, close the door before Cotter digs in the litter!" [Cotter laughs at my misplaced words.] Giggling myself, I try again with all seriousness, "Cotter, close the door before Kaitlyn digs in the laundry!" [Cotter laughs again, probably thinking I'm joking.] Then, Cotter is quite impressed when I finally, slowly, come out with the correct words on my third try.

Then there was lunch time. Cotter asks for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. So, having fixed at least 400 of these sandwiches over the past year, I can pretty much do that in automatic-pilot mode. So, I guess the sandwich was made, although I don't really have any recollection of having completed the task. About 10 minutes later, Cotter says, "I'm still hungry." I look at his blank plate and start to ask him what else he would like. But then, glancing onto the countertop, I notice a peanut butter and jelly sandwich which was made, neatly cut in half, and placed into a sandwich baggy, all ready for Cotter's lunch...uh...tomorrow?

After a while, you just have to laugh at yourself.