My Mom Is (Still) A Bully

[LadyJag]

First, I have to say "Wow!" None of my journal posts have ever received more than about 30 views, and most never receive comments. But within about an hour of posting my last journal entry, "My Mom Is A Bully," I had 4 comments and over 30 hits. Thank you all so much for taking the time to read my post and a special thanks to those who added comments of sympathy, encouragement, perspective, and advice.

So here's the outcome of my dreaded weekend at a theme park with my mom:

I didn't finish working until 6:00, so we didn't get to the hotel until late. As luck would have it, the hotel was pretty booked, so they couldn't honor my mom's request of adjoining rooms. We were on the same floor, but on opposite ends of the hall. Cool.

Before getting Alyssa ready for bed, I decided to take her over to my mom's room so she could say goodnight. (Alyssa LOVED exploring the hotel, by the way!) My mom was very happy to see her, and gave her a present, like she usually does. (I'm going to talk to her about that when the time is right and nicely tell her that while it's very generous of her, I prefer she doesn't give Alyssa gifts every time she sees her. I want Alyssa to be happy to see her because of her, not because of what she bought.)

Anyway, this particular toy was a little Fischer Price horse flashlight. When you squeeze the button on the tail, it's mouth opens up, the light comes on, and it either whinnies or snorts. Alyssa LOVED it and would not part with it. She carried it all over the place, and even took it to bed with her. Which means Alex and I had to listen to whinnies, followed by snorts, and a couple of baby giggles as our room lit up until about 12 midnight! It was kind of funny, actually, and Alex and I tried to stifle our snickering each time the flashlight lit up the room. I can't speak from experience, but I imagine it would be equivalent to staying in a hotel in the red light district, next to a flickering neon sign.

Alyssa finally fell asleep so I could stop plotting how I would place a toy horse head in my mom's bed that night, but she slept only about 90 minutes before she woke up screaming. And she screamed and cried and screamed some more, so I had to walk her around outside in my pajamas and do everything I could think of to get her to calm down and get her to go to sleep. She finally fell asleep around 3:30 am after several rounds of "Twinkle, Twinkle," the Alphabet song, "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep," "Spider Pig," and "3 Blind Mice," a new diaper, and a cereal bar. :-P

Needless to say, I was too tired the next morning to get worked up over my mom trying to take over. That's not to say she didn't pull some of the same old stuff. In fact, I got a "did you catch that?" glance from my hubby when my mom told me to watch Alyssa while she went to get a muffin. (Gee, I'm not sure I can be trusted to watch my own kid so that my mom can leave the room for a moment!) She also asked me if I thought Alyssa would have slept better in my her [my mom's] room than in mine. Huh?!? Yeah, like the exact room on the OTHER end of the hallway would make such a difference, especially with Alyssa being separated from her mommy and daddy!

Still, I basically got over myself and didn't let any of the bullying bother me. In fact, I suspect that either my hubby or my mom's friend said something to her, because on the second day, my mom actually backed off a little bit! She didn't steal my seat right next to Alyssa the minute I got up from the table, at least. ;-)

Well, it's getting late, and I see that this post is getting pretty long, so I'll stop here. I think that my mom and I will have to have a "come to Jesus" talk to clear things up once and for all, but for now, the situation is tolerable, and maybe even a little better. We'll see.

[peanut9142]

Sep. 17, 2007 at 10:08 PM

My mom does the same thing to me. When it really gets to me I adopt my sarcastic tone and tell her "Gee, it sure is a wonder Jonathan has managed to stay alive these past 3 yrs w/ me as his mom." That usually settles her right down.

Amy

[HeathersBabies]

Sep. 17, 2007 at 10:44 PM

I have had a very similar situation with my stepmom, recently...I'll email you the details tomorrow...even involves a hotel!! (of course, it didn't start...or stop there!)Looks like we are eachother's parallel self...this gets creepier with each bit of info. we get from eachother! LOL!!