Thanks Mom!

Excuse the 'butt shot'... but this picture is just too perfect. Let me tell you a little story. I usually go on and on about how we should take our mother's advice... or listen to someone wiser than ourselves. Well, I take it all back... (at least for today).

One day my mom was over as Evangeline was going potty. After wrapping up the blessed event with a treat, I had to remind my darling Doodle to wash her hands. So off she runs to the dining room and drags a chair all the way down the hall and into the bathroom. Sometimes I supervise the hand washing... and other times I shut the door and let her play in the water... it really just depends on how desperate I happen to be at the time.

As soon as the potty, treats and hand washing had commenced... my mom, in true Rickards' fashion, makes a statement as if it's documented in scripture.

"Well... That girl needs a step stool."

Of course, I immediately feel awful that my child doesn't have a step stool. What kind of mother am I?! Naturally my mother is right... so I nonchalantly look for cute, inexpensive step stools over the next few months... on the rare occasion that I actually make it into a store without a circus in tote... ( is it tow or tote?) Oh well.

Well... my mom had already decided on the step stool of choice. 'It's not cute' she would say... 'But it's light weight, so Evangeline can carry it herself'.

Now, that should've been the 'red flag'. Do I really want to enable my independent 3 year old to do anything else on her own? Absolutely not. Every 'do it yourself' moment around here comes with serious consequences. I've even been bragging lately about the fact that she's suddenly decided to potty train herself. But what I forget to brag about is the fact that she doesn't even tell me when she needs to go. She simply runs to the bathroom, slams and locks the door before I can catch up with her... then proceeds to yell that she needs privacy and doesn't need to wipe.

After that, she'll insist on getting her own treat... which brings us to the relevancy of this fabulous picture. Usually, it takes her at least 30 seconds to find her chair and drag it to the counter. By then, I have heard the 'warning signal'... and am there within seconds to intercept a catastrophe (or in this case... take a picture).

On a typical 'mommy's got it together' day... she never even makes it to the counter, and I explain that she may not climb up there... and she has to wait for mommy to hand her a treat. All of which is usually followed by a dramatic tantrum. But not any more...

The other day DamButta took Doodle out for the morning... and ,of course, came back with a 'not cute, but easy to move' step stool. "Aww... how nice." was my first thought. But after a few days with this 'stealth-like step stool' I am convinced of one thing. MY MOM HAD ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHAT SHE WAS TALKING ABOUT. Now, I must admit this is a rare occasion. But I'm learning that when it comes to Evangeline... my 'motherly instincts' are the ones that pull more weight. I should've foreseen the disasters that would be at Doodle's fingertips with the aid of a handy step stool. Without my life saving warning signal of hearing that chair drag across the floor.
The dishes that would be washed and broken. The floors that would be flooded with water. The entire sugar bowl that I would find dumped out and half eaten. And even poor Baby Brotha who would find himself trapped under the step stool because a 'monster got him'.

I would usually tell you to 'listen to your mom'... she knows best. But in this instance... even though my mother raised five of us and knows almost everything ... she never had a 'Doodle'.