There are certain things that every parent hates to hear. This is my list, see if you can add to it.
1. Yesterday morning about two minutes before my son had to leave to catch the bus he yelled up the stairs, “I can’t find my other shoe.” I had specifically told him to put them away the night before so we could find them in the morning. Obviously he hadn’t listened. He ended up wearing his church shoes, and whined about it until I forced him out the door to catch the bus.
2. A loud crashing sound from the kitchen followed by an “Uh-oh!” This is never good. It usually means I find something broken lying on the kitchen floor.
3. My two year old, loves to play in the toilet. So when I hear the sound of splashing coming from the bathroom, followed by giggles of delight it means that I will find her playing or sitting in the toilet. Which is why our bathroom doors are supposed to stay locked. But having a six year old and a husband they often get left open.
4. I haven’t heard this one yet, but my mother often did. “Mom, I have a big project due tomorrow.” Which of course your child has known about for weeks but put off until the night before. So you get to stay up working on the project, grumbling, and imagining what you want to do to the teacher who assigned it.
5. The sound of the front door opening, but not closing, means that my two year old has escaped. She recently figured out how to open the dead bolt, and she uses this knowledge as often as possible. Besides the danger of cars it’s winter and about 30 degrees outside, and she never puts on her shoes or coat first.
6. My stomach sinks every time I hear my son yell, “Mom, Kelsey’s in your room.” In a matter of two days my daughter managed to destroy all of my lipsticks, which I have yet to replace. I have also found her sitting in the middle of my bed covered in Vaseline. Another time she took all of my glass bells off of my display shelves and lined them up on my headboard. She managed to only break one.
7. The sound of a chair being pulled across the kitchen floor, or even worse not hearing the sound. Before Thanksgiving Kelsey got on the kitchen cupboard and dished her up some blueberry pie that I had cooling. I managed to salvage the pie, which I was taking to my parents for Thanksgiving. But I never got the blueberry stain out of her shirt.
8. I hate it when I hear coughing or gagging sounds coming from my children’s rooms in the middle of the night. This pretty much guarantees that I won’t be getting much sleep. Not to mention that I now get to deal with sick kids during the day. Did I mention that I wouldn’t be getting much sleep?
9. My girls share a room and sometimes Kelsey will decide that the top bunk looks better than the bottom and climb up for a visit. This decision is always followed by a scream and Alysta yelling, “Mom, Kelsey’s in my bed.”
10. The door bell ringing after I’ve just put my children to sleep, especially since I have a sign that says, “Please knock.”
P.S. My son’s shoe is still missing.