Mommy Skills

One day back about 20 plus years ago I took my son to McDonald's.  He was probably 3, maybe a little younger and just the cutest thing.  At the time I had taken a break from work and was fortunate enough to be able to stay at home full time with him.  I was brushing up on my mommy skills and pretty confident that I was really doing well in that department.  The McDonald's that we went to was the one closest to our house and it had just installed one of those huge ball pits with the slides and tunnels and rope bridges so we headed that way.  What a great mom I was to think of this very cool activity!  After his Happy Meal he toddled off to have his fun and I kept a close eye him, or so I thought.  I clapped and cheered as he accomplished fabulous feats within that contraption.  He started a routine where he would climb in, go through the tunnels (sometimes backwards just to show off --- he was an advanced child), crawl across the rope bridge and slide into the ball pit and climb out winding his way around the tables in the play room and then off to the tunnels to start over again.  At some point I noticed that he was chewing on something and called him over.  I wondered if he had stuck some French Fries in his pocket and was eating on the run.  When he got to me I asked what he was chewing on and he proudly opened his mouth and showed me, "Gum!" he said.  Gum?  I didn't let my 3 year old chew gum.  That would put a serious dent in my mommy skills.  I asked, "Where did you get gum?" and he said, "Come here" and he took me over to those earlier mentioned tables that he was using as part of his obstacle course.  He pulled me down to look under the table and proclaimed, "See Mommy, there's lots of gum!" and sure enough there was.  Chewed up, dried up gum that had been stuck to the bottom of the table when its chewers were through with it.  To my very small 3 year old, the bottoms of the tables were about at eye level and I guess that treasure trove of gum caught his eye easily.  GAG!!  I could not get that gum out of his mouth fast enough and he could not believe I had taken his treat from him.  I didn't know what to do as I thought about all the diseases that he was going to have to battle in the coming days.  I wiped out his mouth with napkins, had him drink water and then wiped out his mouth some more.  It probably crossed my mind to dial the poison control center but I don't  remember actually going that far.  I thought to myself, "What a horrible Mom I am."  But, here we are 20 plus years later and my baby boy is a healthy, happy, thriving young man.   I guess his immune system battled and won out against all those terrible afflictions I was so worried about.  I have noticed that he doesn't chew gum much though.