Journal Entry

Mommy moments: Mistaken identity 101

Little toddlers swarmed around my feet, ricocheting off of their mothers’ “no” and “stop that” like flies on a porch light. I wasn’t even sure which of these little noisemakers was the birthday boy, because the boy was a “friend” of my one-year-old son’s from daycare.

I felt out of place, not knowing any of the other moms there, and was looking for a good time to escape. The problem was that my child had dove into the sea of babies before me. So I went fishing and pulled out a blond with blue jean bibs. Happy with the catch and in a hurry to leave, I distractedly slid his coat over him, put up his hood, and wrapped his scarf around his face to expose his nose and his eyes. He was unusually good during this entire ordeal, and grabbed my hand when I offered it to him.

I was about ready to make my escape, when I heard a scream, “I can’t find Logan!” I turned around to see all the mommies frantically going through the kids like clothes in a laundry basket. Almost simultaneously, a little voice from below said, “Bye-bye, mama.”

I looked down, and was quite confused to see my little son waving at me and wearing no coat. I then closed my eyes at the shocking realization that he was not the child attached to my hand. In the middle of the frenzied search for Logan, I bent down and whispered to the child I had bundled up moments ago, “You’re Logan, aren’t you?” The little nod that rippled through the layers of clothing confirmed my suspicion.

I attempted to tear the coat off of him, but I wasn’t fast enough and had to turn to the accusing eyes of Logan’s mom. I stumbled through an apology, ending it with goodbye and grabbed my son—one of the few in the room who didn’t know that his mother was an idiot—and bolted out the door.