Today I hit the point where I thought my head would honestly explode if I heard one more person call "Mommy!!??!" in a high-pitched and whiny questioning tone of voice. And I'm practically deaf so I wear high-powered hearing aids. I really do take pity on moms with perfect (or in Linda's case, supersonic) hearing. Seriously, sometimes I think I would stab myself in the head to make all the voices go away.
With three children age five and under, there is a pretty steady stream of Constant Needs around here. If someone isn't hungry, thirsty, or needing to pee pee, they have either been injured, injured someone else, or made a mess. All of which require the assistance of the indentured servant otherwise known as Mommy. Three young children and one Mommy means that the aforementioned Mommy is busier than a one-legged man in an ass kicking contest.
Ironically enough, they also use this tone of voice when they want to show me something, play with me, or help me with something. But I am so conditioned the Constant Needs that usually follow "Mommy!?!?" that increasingly I find myself barking, "WHAT!!?!?!" in response to every single call. Time to take a step back and get a grip, Mommy.
So in an effort to get them to address me in a different tone of voice, I sat the Bigs down and told them I would no longer be responding to "Mommy" in a whining tone of voice and they would have to find a different approach. They totally missed the point and have started calling me "Daddy" in a whining tone of voice.
Which is why lately I've found myself favoring the baby because, frankly, he is more quiet. And while he summons me with a scream, at least it's not a whine.
OMG....that whine makes me crazy. One day I told my kids I was changing my name to Bob. By the end of the day the "Bob" whine was just as bad. Ugh! I'm going to start wearing earplugs.
Posted by: Linda | Apr 17, 2009 at 05:40 PM
Yep. I can totally relate. One day my mom was asking Jack where everyone sits at the kitchen table. He pointed out his, Melody, and Charlie's chairs and then my mom asked, "where does Mommy sit?" Jack said, "Oh, she just stands over there {points to counter} in case we need anything."
Posted by: Emily | Apr 18, 2009 at 09:01 AM
OH HONEY. You must be living in my house. Just yesterday I told hubby that i was going to explode if i heard "Mooooommmmmyyyy!!" one more time. Ironically, my sister is deaf (cochlear impant) and she often "forgets" to turn on her hearing aid when she's around my crew :)
Posted by: Justice Fergie | Apr 18, 2009 at 08:02 PM
I agree that whining is the worst. I can't even take it from our dogs. It just makes me freak out.
I do have to say that the part about "Daddy!" made me laugh out loud. Smart little guys you have there.
Posted by: Alecia | Apr 21, 2009 at 04:22 PM
It's good to know that I'm not alone! Thank you for posting this. Thank You. :-)
Posted by: mom2tnt | May 02, 2009 at 02:56 AM
Wow! Your blog seemed like a warning to me. I currently have a 4 month old daughter. After reading this, I promised not to have another baby until she's 4 or 5. =)
Posted by: headbands | May 08, 2009 at 09:02 AM