You Know You're a Single Mom When...

...you have to change right before a date because you just got puked on.
...you look at that last statement and wonder "Date? What the hell is a date?"
...you absolutely loathe getting stood up because it took forever to get yourself ready to go, baby fed and cleaned up and ready for bed, babysitter lined up, and house semi clean so as not to scare the babysitter, all just to be cancelled!
...after working 11 hours, you get to come home to a baby with a fever and poopy pants.
...you hear other moms talk about how hard it was when their husband went out of town for the weekend and you just kinda laugh silently to yourself.
...your kid has the worst haircut on the block because you tried to do it yourself to save money.
...you can't get your own hair cut because who will watch your child?
...the word vacation has no meaning to you whatsoever.
...in new situations, you tend to ask yourself "Well, what would Lorelai do?"
...your kid thinks everybody lives with their grandma and grandpa.
...you put off your own doctor appointments because your kid is always at the doctor.
...you don't eat dinner until 9pm when baby is put to bed and you've washed and prepared his bottles for the next day.
...or if you to eat dinner at all, half ends up in your child's belly... because even if you're both having the same thing it's better off of Mommy's plate.
...you haven't shaved your legs in a week, month, etc...because you either don't have time or you're too damn tired!
...but it's ok because no one's going to see/feel them anyway
...you notice your DVR is filled with your favorite shows because there is only time for what your kids watch...but you still never watch those shows.
your DVD player has one DVD in it at all times, and that DVD is Dora the Explorer.

...you don't care about any of this because your child is your world.

The Happy Dance

Last night I stayed up until midnight putting away laundry. I was so proud of myself for getting this done, and was looking forward to finally going to bed…when Riley woke up. Crying.

My dad happened to still be up and volunteered to take Riley for a minute so I could get ready for bed (cue Hallelujah chorus). By the time I was back, though, Riley still was not happy. I stayed up with him for an hour, rocking, singing lullabies, feeding, and soothing him. And Riley was still not happy. His big thing these days is shouting. Problem is, I have no way of knowing that MUUUUUUGHHHHH meant “Hi, mommy, would you mind changing my diaper? It’s wet and uncomfortable.” So it took me an hour to figure it out. (You’d think I would have figured out a basic like diaper changing a lot sooner than that, but he rarely needs a middle of the night change, so I didn’t think of it.)

So, instantly after I changed the diaper Riley became his normal happy and smiling self. And he started…dancing. Yes, dancing. And giggling. But by this time it was 1:30 in the morning so rather than join him, I put him in his crib (he didn’t even protest!) and we both went to sleep.

All of this points to a need to be able to communicate. I wish I knew what he was thinking or trying to do even just half the time. After a similar shouting incident in Costco last week (yes, I was that mom, the one with a screaming child in the grocery store) I decided to start teaching Riley sign language. Mealtime is when he is the most anxious, so I’m teaching him “more,” “drink,” and “all done.” So far it doesn’t seem like a lot of progress because he’s still shouting and the one or two times he did the signs I’m not sure if he knew what it meant or if he was just copying me. But here’s to hoping we’ll have a communication breakthrough sometime soon.

Of course, before I can teach it to Riley, I still have to learn sign language for “diaper change.”