What a baby...crybaby that is.

So today was not the greatest of days. It started out going to K’s PAIIR class, which I’ll talk more about later. Then we decided to go to the park to play for a bit. That went relatively well also. But then we went home, and things deteriorated quickly. And I’m not sure why. Long story short, M bit K on the cheek, which was pretty much the topper to the day, only there was more “day” to go. Craig is in Chicago this week for business, so it could be a really long week. I ended up screaming at the kids as I was trying to cook eggs and hash browns for supper (M’s choice). Something like “Knock it off both of you, you’re acting like little…” and I managed to stop myself at that point. I hope the neighbors can’t hear me when I lose it like that…I guess that’s one plus of living out of the city limits. So then I felt terrible and started crying.

This brings me to my original idea to write about today.

Why am I such a big crybaby since I had kids? It’s totally ridiculous. If anyone in either of my kids’ PAIIR classes starts to cry, it’s like my body feels compelled to not let that person cry alone. Granted, some things are really sad, but the majority of the people in the room can keep it together, why can’t I?

This morning, at K’s class one of the moms started crying when asked the seemingly innocuous question, “how was your weekend?” She left the room for a few minutes, but came back to tell us. She is the mom of 5 children. She has triplets in K’s class so they’re about his age (almost 2), and 2 older boys. She told us today that her oldest son was celebrating his 7th birthday this weekend, (although his birthday was today). He has cancer, and is not doing well. She said the chemo is really tiring him out, he couldn’t even finish opening his presents. She said “what kind of 7 year old is too tired to open presents?” and began crying again. Honestly, I wanted to bawl right along with her, but I kept it together pretty well for me. (Don’t get me wrong, my eyes welled up several times.) She did share a laugh with us. She said her hubby and her had decided when her son was diagnosed to try for one more child. Well, that “child” turned out to be the triplets. I really don’t know how she does it. I think I’d be in an asylum.

Back to the crying topic though, I was a bit of a crybaby growing up. But I was successful at stemming the tides more often back then. Once I became pregnant with Miranda, forget it. I bawl at everything from TV shows to seeing how happy my kids are the first time they get to ride a carousel (and yes, I did cry, both times).

Of course it’s worse around that time of the month, but I’m still a big baby other times of the month. People in M’s class must think I have a crying disorder or something.

Maybe I just need to change how I think about this. I’m just being a supportive friend. No one should have to cry alone. Or something.