Mommy Jail

Mommy Jail is something my friends and I have joked about as the place we should all go for certain things we've done with our children that we regret. Things like not paying attention and they get hurt or pretending you don't notice when they eat something off the floor. How much we regret them varies based on the offense, how it actually turned out, and whether the offense was actually "wrong" or just deemed so by judgmental others. So, it's confession time. I've had various mommy-jail offenses in my 2+ years in this role but the one that has been hanging over my head for a long time is that I've let Ella go to bed (nap and night) with a bottle/sippy cup in her bed ever since I stopped nursing. This may not sound so bad but it was not water. It was milk. Yup, tooth-rotting, sugar-filled milk. I've known for a fact that she always finishes the entire thing, puts it down, rolls over and goes to sleep so I've comforted myself as I read horrifying articles about "bottle rot" that she never falls asleep with milk in her mouth. Either way, I knew it wasn't the best thing to send her to bed with milk. But, she goes to bed so easily (9.5/10 times) I was too scared to take it away for fear that I didn't actually have a kid who puts herself to sleep but a kid who has an addiction to milk as a comfort item to put her to sleep. Well, about a month ago, we decided if she was ever going to night potty train we'd have to do it. Plus, just because her teeth are healthy so far, the dentist agreed it's not the best plan to brush and then let her drink milk. So we did it. We took it away. We told her big girls don't need milk in their beds and just put her in her bed. And she rolled over and went to sleep. WHAT????? I was all prepped for screaming and crying and she did...nothing. I thought maybe it was just that first night but she has had NO reaction. She doesn't care. Who would have guessed? Not me. I feel liberated. No more ongoing "bad habits" I'm too scared to kick. Ahhh. Freedom!!!! Oh wait...that familiar mommy guilt feeling is reminding me how often I let her watch TV when I probably should just sit down and play with her....oy. Mommy Jail, here I come. Thank God that he is FULL of grace for all the places I fall short as a parent.

"But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. " 2 Cor 12:9 (NIV)