The Working Mom by Kay Luna

OMG, I am trying not to snort with laughter at my desk right now, after reading a blog my sister forwarded to me.

She found this post by accident, after surfing the Internet for comments about a Lifetime original movie that she hated … I know, I know, but she’s got a lot of time on her hands. No kids.

Anyway, the blogger, Sarah Aswell, says the “MOST IMPORTANT THING TO KNOW ABOUT TODDLERS” is this: When they’re freaking out, like toddlers do, you need to distract them … like you would a drunk.

She says think about it: They can’t walk a straight line. They freak out and cry at the drop of a hat. They can’t say their ABCs.

So when they act up, ask yourself, “What would I do if I was dealing with a drunk?” She says when they cry, pick them up and hug them and tell them everything’s going to be all right, someday they’ll find Mr. Right, now let’s go to sleep now and in the morning we’ll get some omelettes.

And it gets better! Go check it out, if you have time, by clicking RIGHT HERE.

One look at Babycakes, and you can tell she feels better. THANK GOODNESS. I took her to the doctor for a check-up this morning, and she got a clean bill of health.

But while I was waiting to take her to the appointment, I turned on one of the morning news shows. They had a story on about a mother who, sadly, FORGOT her baby son was in the car with her one day on the way to work. She was talking on the cell phone during her drive, and overlooked that she hadn’t dropped him off at daycare.

She left him in the hot car, and he died.

She feels extreme guilt over this, which is understandable — and no matter how bad she feels, she can never get her baby back.

Can you imagine ever doing that? They said it happens more than people realize, when parents get “out of their routine” on their way to work and just overlook the baby, who is often rear-facing and/or asleep and quiet.

I remember when Babycakes was very little, I would turn around and touch the top of her head in the carseat every now and then, just to make sure I had her with me. I’m paranoid that way.

A few weeks ago, we turned around her carseat to front-facing for the first time. She held on for dear life during that first ride, looking scared to death at what she could see on the road. Now, she seems to enjoy it.

And she makes sure I’m very aware that she’s in the car now, too. This morning, on my way to drop her off at daycare, she was cheesing with all her little teeth and waving at me in the rearview mirror.

The experts on TV suggested parents put something they need to bring into work — like a briefcase or your purse — in the backseat beside the baby, so you’ll be forced to look there when you get to work.

What do YOU do to make sure you never forget about your kids in the car?

Hey, I’ve missed talking to you! How have you been?

Sorry I’ve been missing in action on this blog lately. Yes, I really do still work here. ( I actually got a very sweet call from a reader, asking me that very question because my blog was so old! She said she loves reading it, and was worried about me. I was so touched).

What’s new with me? Babycakes is sick with pneumonia. Very scary. My husband and I have been taking turns staying with her during the day, so we both can work, at least a little. It’s the story of my life — figuring out how to balance the pull of home versus the pull of work. Can you relate?

In between feeling yucky, the baby is still very playful — and she is so funny. She’s hit a major milestone: She recently learned how to do “zerberts.”

You know what I’m talking about — the wet-mouth-blowing-fart sounds that makes us all burst into laughter! (OK, that make ME burst into laughter!).

Little Babycakes has taken to grabbing onto my face, laying down her sucker-like-mouth on my cheek and then blowing — hard and loud! I giggle every time, and then so does she, just long enough to gasp for breath and then do it again.

She’s abandoned crawling and is walking almost all the time now, still sort of like a drunk man, but she’s getting better every day. It’s so fun to watch her toddle around the house now.

The other day, she got curious about the dog food bowls in the kitchen. She walked over to it, looked up at me, and then gave me the universal yuck sound: “Awwkkkkeeyy!”

She loves dogs, by the way. Whenever she sees a real dog, a picture of a dog or even just a glimpse on TV of a dog — or any other animal that even sort of looks like a dog to her — she yells out enthusiastically, “Daaawwwwwww.” She also tries to say her doggie’s name by blurting out, “Ginnsss.” The dog’s name is Guinness, so she’s close.

It’s amazing how one day it just seems to click in their little minds — they suddenly seem to understand what you’re saying, and can respond (or at least try to). Babycakes knows how to tell me she wants a bottle, by pointing and saying, “Baba.” I, of course, repeat it to her as “bottle,” but she keeps saying it her way.

She knows where her ears, hair, nose, eyes, mouth and tongue are, and can show you, when she feels like it. She knows where her toys are, and she still LOVES her little baby dolls that she carries around like security blankets — Babies Sarah, Claudette and Natalie. She clutches them and kisses them and loves them, which is so fun to see.

Oh, and Babycakes did her very first craft project ever at daycare the other day: A finger-painting of MLK Jr’s head! I was so proud.

Yep, being a Mommy is good. It’s really, really good.

Oh, the joys of dealing with those first loose — and then, missing — teeth!

Janet Hill, an editor here at the Times, forwarded me a picture of her 5-year-old boy and this story (which she says I can share) about losing his first tooth:

“This is so American, and maybe not in a good way. Matt lost his first tooth at Wal-Mart. And I do mean lost because we couldn’t find it. He wrote a letter to the Tooth Fairy explaining it. (Dear Tooth Fairy, I lost my tooth at Wal-Mart. I am sorry you can’t have it. Love, Matt).

Too funny!

I remember when my son lost his first tooth, and then, promptly swallowed it. It got dangerously loose while he was eating a Rice Krispies treat, and went right down the hatch before we could do anything about it.

Ironically, he also swallowed the next tooth he lost, while eating a piece of bread.

But that darn Tooth Fairy is a good woman, if I do say so myself. She brought money every time, even when the tooth was missing in action.

What is the running rate for Tooth Fairy payments nowadays, by the way?