This week ONE’s school called and asked me to pick him up and take him to the doctor because it looked like he had pinkeye. It turned out to just be allergies. The eye drops she prescribed were $125 with insurance, clearly because someone somewhere put a hex on our budget.

This is what $125 worth of eye drops looks like. So tiny. So expensive.

Naturally, ONE refused to let us put them in his eyes. And if the drops hadn’t been so pricey, we may have half-assed our attempts. But these things cost as much as a week’s worth of groceries, and the bottle is so tiny, AND THEY ARE GOING IN WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT.

Thankfully, once he realized they didn’t hurt he got over his phobia and we are all free to all move forward with our lives. Raising children can be so hard. Things like the Eye Drop Experience require virtues that don’t come easily to me. Like patience. 

Husband reminded me yesterday, “Eye drops are scary Harmony. Give the kid a break.” And yes, fine, okay. I get it. New things are scary. He is four years old. I tend to be a little harsh and I have zero patience for foolishness, which can be good and bad when it comes to mothering. My rope is a lot shorter than Husband’s when it comes to things like putting eye drops in, OMG, it will be over before you know it so let’s get it over with already. Which is why he was the one who spent nearly 45 minutes talking calmly to ONE about the drops before finally wrestling him down and dropping them in. 

Here is the child who teaches me patience EVERY DAY.

I am reminded on a regular basis of my shortcomings and I have absolutely no choice but to try to do better. I expect my children to grow and develop their character and so I have to as well. 

It’s hard.

Thankfully, we forgive each other when we mess up and we start over and try to do better. It’s a constant cycle that I guess will repeat over and over until the day I die. Maybe at the end of my long life I will be endlessly patient and completely laid back and Husband will be the one mopping the floor while I sip tea and space out. Hffffft.