After a pretty yucky cold, I've managed to get laryngitis and lost my voice for a few days. It didn't take long before I realized how incredibly difficult it is to be a mommy without a voice. Here are some of the challenges I faced:
1. When Adelyn's 4 yr old neighbor decided to take Adelyn's Jeep (with Adelyn) for a stroll ALL the way down the street, I couldn't scream to get them to turn around. I had to sprint down the street after them like a crazy person. And instead of telling them never to do that again, I had to just give them a really mean look and push the Jeep back down to the house.
2. Adelyn likes to call up to me from downstairs sometimes while she is watching a movie just to make sure I'm there. I usually respond, "Mommy is still here!" but in this case, I couldn't. After attempting a few different sounds, I figured out that I could only suck air in to make noise. So, when she called upstairs, my way to assure her that I was still there (besides running down and up the stairs every time) was to make the same sound that Louis did on the Revenge of the Nerds movie when he was laughing. I sounded pretty ridiculous!
3. Believe it or not, Ella likes my singing. She uncharacteristically woke up crying from her nap a couple days ago and I could not sing her back to sleep. It was so frustrating! She eventually calmed down after I patted her back and rocked her.
4. I had to make a run to Target for more formula, diapers, and baby food. Story of my life, right?! While there, I had two random ladies approach me to tell me how cute my little ones were. So I just shook my head and smiled in appreciation. That worked the first time but the second lady insisted on entering a full conversation with me about her grandkids and the age difference between them. At no point during the conversation was it appropriate to point to my throat and motion to her that I had lost my voice. So, I waited for her to stop talking and then said thank you without words coming out. Instead of trying to explain, I just went on my merry way. A little awkward!
5. I needed to call to schedule a doctor's appointment so I waited until I had some of my voice back yesterday. When I called, only the end of my words would come out and I sounded like a duck! The nurse had to have me repeat things like 3x.
6. Adelyn loves Blues Clues and watches at least one episode using the On Demand function on our cable box once a day. Every time she watches it, I sing the 'mail' song with her. I felt obligated to do it even though I couldn't sing so I motioned all the words out and she thought it was super silly!
7. Understanding a 2 yr old can be challenging at times as it is... but try having your 2 yr old whisper everything and expect you to understand her. Since I couldn't talk, she assumed that she needed to whisper as well but it became very frustrating for the both of us at times.
I've finally started to get some of my voice back just before our trip to the lake this weekend. You know me... I'll have plenty of pictures to post later! It'll be Ella's first boat trip so I'm looking forward to it. Then we're planning a visit to Six Flags next week.
Have a great holiday weekend!
