Good Golly Miss Molly! Oh Boy Baby Brother!: Making Lemonade

Here was the plan:

I would take Molly for a late afternoon swim at the pool while Tony stayed home--all alone!--and got some things knocked off the honey-do list. Later, I would meet Tony at the park where I would hand off Molly. The two of them would play and I would go home--all alone!--shower and cook dinner. What a fun-filled time for a four-year-old. The pool, the park, mommy time, daddy time.

Here’s what happened:

We changed into swim suits, applied copious amount of sunscreen and began to pack the pool bag. But wait…where was the princess beach towel? In the washing machine? Oh, the injustice!

Molly went into full-blown meltdown mode. Screaming, yelling crying and insisting that I remove said towel mid-wash and, with my magical mommy powers, dry it instantaneously so that we could bring it to the pool. She was promptly informed that her request was not going to be honored and was offered a delightful fishy towel. Molly was not impressed.

Things quickly escalated and Molly began beating on the washing machine door with both fists. When that didn’t produce the princess towel, she turned off the machine in mid-wash forcing me to start the entire wash cycle from the beginning (one drawback to the new front load washing machines-IMHO). Now the towel would be trapped in wash-dry land even longer.

More screaming, more, yelling, and even some foot stomping ensued. Time to take more drastic action. Molly was whisked upstairs for the dreaded time out. Not to be deterred, Molly began throwing toys from her bedroom down the stairwell. Oh, yes she did! I gathered the projectiles and loaded them into the Goodwill bag and locked them in the trunk of the car. Oh, yes I did!

Eventually Molly settled down and was released from her timeout. First thing she said was--and I kid you not, “I’m ready to go to the pool now.” Right. Like that’s gonna happen.

Being ever resourceful, Molly then suggested that we take her to the splash park--after all, she was still in her swimsuit and and still coated with copious amounts of sunscreen. Ummm, that wasn’t gonna happen either.

Not willing to give up the fight, Molly marched her little independent self to the backyard, dragged out the sprinkler,and made her own little splash park.And yes, she did eventually have to use the fishy towel! When life gives her lemons, Molly makes lemonade!