Loser...

Poor Ben. He went to put on his new glasses this morning and couldn't find them. It was five minutes before we needed to walk out the door, so I was pretty perturbed. He kept insisting he had put them RIGHT on his nightstand last night. And, because I have at this point memorized the list of standard Mom Replies, I kept saying, "If you had PUT them there, that's where they'd be!"

Then he started stomping up the stairs saying how he loses EVERYTHING and that's when I realized I needed to take a step backward.

Of all moms he could have been given in the whole entire world, there is probably no mom that understands that child's brain more than I do. I empathize with him 100% and completely understand how it's possible to lose a pair of glasses in your own room 12 hours after they were given to you. Sometimes, I don't verbalize to him just HOW MUCH I empathize though; and I really should.

My own mom is wonderful,  and empathized with me on many things; however my constant losing things frustrated her and it was not something she really understood. It was also not something that at ten years old, I could really explain. Thinking back to when I was in 4th and 5th grade and lost my mittens at school about once a week, it would have been nice to have someone say to me, "I know. It's really hard for you. I get it. It's ok."

So, I looked over at the clock, we were already five minutes behind schedule. I sighed and tried to ignore it.  What's a few minutes late, right?  Then I handed him his old glasses and said, "Look. I understand. I lost every mitten, hat, and scarf I ever owned when I was a kid. Grandmom was ALWAYS mad at me. I could never explain where they went, they would just disappear."

"Yes, but I lose my GLASSES!" he retorted.

"Ben, the only reason I *didn't* lose my glasses when I was your age is because I didn't HAVE glasses anymore when I was 11. Otherwise, I would have lost those too. I remember once, Grandmom once bought me this cool snowman pin that I begged and begged for at Valley View at Christmastime. It had little red lights that blinked on and off. She told me NOT TO LOSE IT because it was kind of expensive for a silly little Christmas pin.  Guess what happened? I lost it sometime the next day."  Grandmom was SO mad.

He laughed at that.  ;)  Sorry, mom. :P

I promised to scour his room when I got back and bring him the new glasses if I found them.

Of course, when I got back from dropping him off, I immediately found they had fallen into the bottom drawer of his nightstand that had been open.  I took them up to school with a note inside that said, "You were right! You DID put them on your nightstand. They fell into the drawer." :)

Sometimes, I think I actually I get this mom thing kinda right….