Thursday, July 21, 2005

Tell-tale Toenails

The thing about this blog is that *everyone* is watching. The ones out there that don't know me in real life might think I'm a wonderful mama, but those that know me best (my big sister is who I'm thinking of right now), read the comments, roll their eyes, and promptly lose their lunch in the wastepaper basket.

I just got off the phone with my sis, and we got onto this very subject. I laughed and totally agreed with her that there might be some misunderstandings out there of how really truly rotten-of-a-mom I can be. I even gave her an example story that she told me I'd BETTER share or she'd put up a comment and tell the story herself!

Here goes. Last week or so we were doing dishes Aleksa was helping. She accidentally dropped a plate on her toe, and instead of playing instant perfect mom, I just said, "Oh, Aleksa, you're ok." And pretty much, I forgot about it. A few days later I noticed that her toenail was B-L-A-C-K. OOOPS. Bad, bad, bad mama.

I learned my lesson though, because the very next day after discovering Miss Blackened Nail, we were at the grocery store, and Liana accidentally dropped a can of corn on her toe. Remembering how guilty I felt about Aleksa's accident, I really made a fuss over Liana's. I gave her a hug, and she really tried to be brave and not make a scene. I told her it would be ok to cry, because it really hurt when you drop things on your toe, etc. She sucked in her tears and very seriously and bravely she said, "It's ok, Mama, I won't scream in the store. Jesus is helping me." (It's so hard sometimes to not laugh when your kids are being so serious!)

The pitiful thing was that her toenail did NOT turn black like her sister's. Oy.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

(Ok, now I'M the one with the wastepaper basket...) Ok, just kidding; maybe a tissue instead. Thanks, Sharon, that's really, really nice. I love you too!!!

(((hugs)))

Shelly

Anonymous said...

Oh Shelly, you're just "terrible".

You may not be perfect- who is? who'd wanna be?- but you are a great mama and a wonderful person for what you have been so willing to share with all of us. I wonder if you will ever know how many adoptive parents you've helped because of that! I can't speak for anyone but myself, but I don't think anyone thinks you've painted a misleading picture of what parenting adopted kids can be like, that it's all fun and games all of the time. Anyone who's been in the company of any kids for more that 10 minutes knows that. But what you have managed to convey is the beauty of what it's like to become a mother through adoption and the warmth of a loving family built by it. I fully expect to scream myself silly and probably lose a fair amount of hair too, but all I can say is that since I found you last year you have been a constant source of inspiration.

Okay, now, if you want to find the wastepaper basket, you can! :)

xo Lisa S.

Anonymous said...

Hey Shelly!

I'll see your toenail story and throw in the fact that I let my oldest sleep with a broken arm before we took him to the hospital the next day! Talk about guilt when they said it was broken! Sheesh. We'll be paying a psychotherapy bill for that one in a few years I'm sure! *LOL*

No, you aren't the perfect Mom. And your kids aren't perfect. But you are perfect for each other! I have loved getting caught up with your family. I can't believe it's almost been a year! I wish we could have met at the Dells Reunion. But my boys assure me we WILL be going back to visit again. So maybe next trip!

And kudos to you about handling their past lives so well. You know how I feel about that situation. =) You know I did the boys a life-book---hey it only took me two years to do it. Well I finally gave it to them a month or so ago. And I can tell you that it is priceless to them. The best way for me to describe it is that it give validity to their life in Ukraine. I have walked in on Nicholaus just looking and staring at his several times. So keep up with those stories. It's something you'll be able to read y our grandchildren some day!

Best wishes!

Penney
Mommy to Max (8) and Nicolaus (9)
Adopted 3/2003 from Chirngiv Region
http://www.mizellbrooks.homestead.com

Anonymous said...

Penney! That's awful! LOL! Thanks for sharing the broken arm story. That makes me feel much better! What kinds of things did you put in their lifebooks, Penney? You should make a list of the pages and put it on MyFamily... I happen to know you went all-out with yours, and some of the pages you've mentioned in passing are some I never would have thought of. I know you did a birth family search, and that has to be a huge chunk of it, but what other goodies did you add? (I should post that question to you on the Post Adopt or OlderKids yahoo group. It would be fun to see what other replies I get.)

Lisa, very sweet of you too. Thank you! (Nah, no wastepaper baskets needed!) ;o) Sure wish you lived closer! (Penney, you too! I'd love to meet you and your kiddos - ok, and Byron too!) ;O)

Shelly