The Mothership

I sit realizing I'm staring at a family whose child is having a meltdown of the century.  The Mother looks up and realizes I'm staring, and what do I do, I smile.  I smile because I've been there before...maybe not right now, thank God, but probably 40 minutes earlier.  I walk away with my children in tow and find myself wondering for that Mother. Does she know I smiled at her out of EMPATHY because I can relate so well?  Or does she think I smiled an uncomfortable smile covering up some judgement I'm making in my head?  I hope she thinks it's out of Empathy, because it was, it really was.  I never know what to say in those situations, so I end up just smiling and removing myself from the situation because I would want fewer spectators if my child were having a tantrum too. But how often do others actually need to hear support from other stranger Mothers?  Maybe more than I'd like to admit.  I also am guilty of judging others, because who does...

****** MORE POTTY LANGUAGE.  If you are not comfortable with it, get over it, it's my life right now.**** Luke has done and AWESOME job with potty training.  He really hasn't had very many accidents to speak of and pretty much decided on his own that he was going to go diaper free.  I was expecting him to be very stubborn about the whole process, but he really has done a great job.  All in all, I'm impressed with my son.  He is a tremendous potty trainee.  However, there are a few things that make me say he's not 100% potty trained: he's 2...I mean there are not many 2 year old boys, in my career as a teacher, whom are perfectly potty trained.  Since he's 2 he is also very unpredictable/unreliable! because he's so young, his little arm does not reach around to his bottom to wipe.  So he still needs help with wiping. he also is not tall enough to stand and pee nor is he able to get up onto the potty without his pants falling off....