Don’t Say It… Don’t

Way back a whole 16 months ago or so, my friend Marla and I remarked that as soon as we said something about our sons’ routines, they changed. So, we resolved, it was best be quiet about such matters.

Don’t tell someone your son started sleeping through the night or he would immediately stop. Don’t utter a word how your kid eats veggies like a champ, or he’d suddenly refuse anything remotely resembling a vegetable. Your kid hasn’t been sick in awhile? Keep it to yourself or the next week he’ll come down with the snottiest cold in the whole-wide world. You speak what you’re thinking aloud, and you tempt fate. It’s just not wise. Moms know all about this phenomenon—I’ve heard others say similar things.

So, why in the heck did I tell someone last week that my morning commute with O if often pretty peaceful? (Aside from the great poop incident of 2008, of course.) We usually ride in relative peace. I think in part it’s because we are both still waking up, so we just chill. I’m able to listen to my music—not the toddler-centric tunes that dominate the ride home—and O’s happy as a clam. Sometimes we chat, but often we ride in a comfortable silence. Why did I say it? Why? I guess I felt untouchable because this has been our routine for oh, just about 15 months or so.

Bad move. Every day this week, the ride into daycare/work has been less than pleasant. Between screams of “cooooookie,” “go-go,” shoe tossing, and kicks to the back of my seat, I’m surprised I make the half-hour commute and arrive to daycare in one piece.

Stupid fate.

Maybe now I should start talking about how bad our commute to work is. Does it work in reverse?

8 thoughts on “Don’t Say It… Don’t

  1. Selfmademom says:

    It’s because he’s 15 months… all car rides go to hell and a handbasket around then. It’s time to bust out the Kiddie music CDs. Lucky you! 🙂

  2. Jennifer B says:

    Such a timely post! Just last week, I bragged that my 6 month old wasn’t fussy due to teething like her sister was. Now she has kept me up 4 nights in a row and keeps biting me while nursing. Like you, I’ll keep my mouth shut from now on.

  3. Mommy Bits says:

    LOL. This happens to me too. Everytime I start to think or even mention to someone that the boys are getting along well fighting ensues for days.

    It will get better. My mom says raising children is like being on a roller coaster, you constantly go through ups and downs but everything is always cool in the end.

  4. There’s no rule that says kids can only listen to “kiddie” music. We have exposed our daughter to so many different kinds of music, that she has her favorites for the car, but I can stand them. My husband has made her several mix CDs that we usually listen to. There’s a couple Dan Zanes mixed in, but that’s as “kiddie” as it gets (and I love “Water for the Elephants,” the song and the book!). I hear Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Sly & the Family Stone, lots of bluegrass, Jerry Garcia (who has a great kids CD). Just get him to like your music, and you two can sing along together.

  5. mommyrage says:

    God, this is so so true..my mother used to tell me all the time to stop talking about my daughter,and I used to tell her that it was all some silly superstition. Till, well, till she was proven right!

    I live in India and we even have a word for it in Hindi..it’s called nazar (pronounced nuh-zer),meaning something like the evil eye.It’s when you say something, esp something good, about anything,it gets the attention of the evil eye.

    After many oh-this-is-rubbish moments, I’ve now learned my lesson!

  6. mommyrage–That is really interesting. And a little scary!

    I’m glad I’m not alone! I KNEW other moms have experienced this!

    selfmade/Dem mom–there is some music that O likes that is “mine” (He’s a bigger fan of Counting Crows than I am) but the one CD that will quiet him down like no other is this “Toddler Tunes” CD (at least I call it that) full of such great nursey rhyme/song wonders such as “Duke of York,” “Kookaburra,” and “Home on the Range.”

  7. oh, the dreaded car ride, ours is about 40 minutes of pure hell! Funny the reverse isn’t true, I complain about it all the time but it never stops the screaming, crying, object throwing jaunt we make every day (times two)!

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