Double Whammy!

It's so strange to explain things to little ones ... you think you're doing the right thing by keeping it high level (or low level, their level) or using words that make sense at the time. It must be some guarantee in life that these things come back to haunt you.

For anyone that knows me, they know that I work really hard at my job. It requires a lot of me but I also am a very prideful woman so my work is very important to me. When Lito came along, it was a challenge to balance it all because I was used to working 50-60 hours a week without much hesitation or frustration. Amazingly kids change everything! By the time Solana Leila came, I learned just how hard it is to go from one child to two and still try to balance a full time job. I'm still a working mom in progress!

So there are certain things that I have built into my routine to ensure I give my kids undivided attention several times a week. One of these things is my weekly visit to McDonald's playland! It happens every Friday ... I leave work between 3-4 PM, just in time for Danny to head to his job and I load the kids in the mini van and we head down to the "MickeyDee's" down the road! The staff knows me by name and the kids absolutely love getting their energy out while getting to play with Mommy! I love it too, it makes me feel like I'm spending the time with my kids that I wish my mom would have spent with me.

You might be surprised to find out that there are a few of us 'families' that show up every week. Okay, maybe I'm the only one that's religiously there every week but the kids have made a few new friends that they get to see every other week or so. It's nice for me too because I meet other people that are not part of my work mayhem. One of these families is a Latino family with a child that has Down Syndrome.

The first time they came, Lito kept staring at the little boy. I would try to just distract Lito but he's a very curious 4-year-old. So it was just a matter of time before he asked me something. He blurted out, "Mommy, why does that boy act like Solana?" (meaning, like a baby, because he wouldn't speak and he crawled around but with his stature, it's clear that he is probably about 6 years old, definitely older than Lito)

In my haste to quiet him down, I just replied, "He's a very special boy and he learns differently. You can still play with him, just be really gentle okay?" He said okay and that was the end of that. It was cute actually, he sort of became protective around him with the other kids, defending him or telling other kids to be careful around him. It's been a few months since we've seen the same family so Lito doesn't react to him any differently now. I was kinda proud!

Then .........
Today ............
This wonderful Friday ..............

Another family showed up ... a new family ..... with a very active little girl. She is probably around 8 years old and was pretending with another girl, pretending that she could not speak. Lito, being the observant brilliant boy he is (really, I think he's brilliant!) turns around to me and asks (a little too loudly for my liking), "Mommy, is she special?" pointing his finger straight at her!

AHHHHHH! What a whammy! Why did I ever use that word to describe 'odd' behavior!

Again in a hurry to quiet him down, I replied very quickly and said, "NO Honey!"

At which point that precious little girl got sad and walked away ... I realized I hurt her feelings ..... OMG, she thought I was saying she wasn't special! The worst thing I could say to any little girl! Double Whammy!

Raising kids is a very tough mental game! I knew it was physically demanding, but mentally too? I had no idea what I was getting into!