I Had a Bad Day

 “Here’s your dinner.” I said, with as much enthusiasm as I could muster, as I sat a plate of corn and hamburger helper in front of my 2 year old.

“No, want bisa-keen!” he screamed. (interpretation: want ice cream!)

“You can have ice cream after dinner, sweetie. Eat your corn. You love corn.” I replied in my best mom voice.

“No! No! No! No corn!” he said violently shaking his adorable little head back and forth.

A tantrum ensued. To his toddler brain, it was a huge injustice that he couldn’t eat ice cream for dinner.

I sighed and secretly wondered if the recent grandparent visit was responsible for this outburst, or if he was just being ‘spirited.’

I was exhausted. Of all the days, I really didn’t need this that night. After spending most of the night before at the hospital delivering a baby, my precious 3 hours of sleep were interrupted by a 4 am ‘emergency phone call’ concerning a yeast infection.  I cringed as I thought of my less than empathic response that I had for the caller. I vowed to do better next time.

Office hours had not gone well either. My first 2 patients of the day were both 20 minutes late. This left me sitting around twiddling my thumbs for 30 minutes, then frantically playing catch up the rest of the day.

Now I found myself begging my toddler to eat corn. Doctor life looks much more glamorous on TV.

After dinner, nothing would make him happy, so I decided to go for the holy grail of toddler fun: the bubble bath. Just the words bubble bath will make him giggle and run to the tub. Sure enough, he was delighted.

I put him in my huge master tub, which has the air jets he loves. I felt my sore muscles ache as I picked him up to put him in. I’ll enjoy my own soak later, I thought.

As I cranked the jets, the bubbles grew almost to overflowing, as did his giggles.

I sat down in my bone tired state. And then I almost had a ‘moment’. You know, one of those precious moments you wish you could freeze in time where your heart warms with love and your cheeks begin to ache from smiling. Almost.

But before I could have this moment, I bent to kiss him. As I leaned forward, I noticed that the water was a little brown.

Hmm, he must be really dirty today.

On closer inspection, the water was not just brown. It was chunky.

He had pooped in the tub…with the JETS ON. He was swimming in POOP SOUP.

As a doctor and mom I have been in some disgusting situations, but watching my son play in raw sewage, had me gagging.

So much for the Hallmark moment.

I pulled him out, wrapped him in a towel and scrubbed him off in a different tub, extremely thankful in that moment that I had another bathroom.

“I poop, Momma. I poop!” He kept saying, so very proud of himself in the way that only a two year can be.

“Yes, honey, you did.” I said shaking my head. I had to laugh. Really? What else could I do.

My angelic husband helped me clean out the tub and then I bleached it, twice. Careful research on our tub revealed the the air only flows one way, so thankfully it wasn’t ruined.

Despite the two scrubbings, the idea of soaking in that tub later was out of the question.

After the kiddos were finally tucked in, I sat on the deck with my hubby and enjoyed a nice Zinfandel.

Yes, it was a crappy day. I wasn’t proud of snapping at a patient at 4 am. However, I did manage to survive a mega-tantrum and poop swim without losing my temper, so that counts as a parenting success, right?

Some days are more about survival than excellence. Days like this help me learn to be thankful for the smoother times (and good husbands).

Not all days are filled with Hallmark moments but all are filled with grace.

Have you had a bad day recently? What thoughts {or types of wine} have helped you get through it?