cool moms don't have all the fun - their kids do

i feel like whenever i try to be the cool mom that is laid back, it comes back to bite me in the butt. i know that's not really true because:

1. most of the time i give into my practical side and i am not the cool mom; and
2. 90% of the time that i do, nothing really happens and my children are happy.

but days like today are the times that make me question whether being the cool mom is really all it's cracked up to be.

i was folding laundry this afternoon and madeleine was playing with some of the food storage in the laundry room. she was pretending that some large juice bottles were people and even though i wanted to tell her to find something else to play with, i thought, "what's the big deal? she's having fun, who cares?" cool mom mantras.

after about twenty minutes, i took a break from folding laundry to go take care of something in the kitchen and hear a large crash, followed by glugging and sloshing noises. i knew right away that it wasn't going to be pretty.

i have to interrupt the story to say that i'm actually pretty proud of my reaction. while i did say, "really madeleine?" that was as much as i said anything along the lines of a reprimand. despite my intense frustration with the situation, i actually had the presence of mind to realize that this was an accident, and if it was anyone's fault, it was mine (cool mom's) for letting her play with the juice bottle in the first place. i am not always this reasonable under similar circumstances.

when i walked into the laundry room, sure enough, there was juice all over the place and quickly flowing into the guest bathroom right off of the laundry room. dark red juice. on the walls, on the bathroom door, and all over the floor. did i mention that our laundry room floor is made up of small tiles with lots of grout?

so, i spent the next twenty minutes trying to keep jonathan away from the floor while doing several rounds of mopping. all because i wanted to be the cool mom.

i wish i could wrap up this post by saying "at least my laundry room floor is really clean now," but i'm pretty sure that's not even true. it's probably dry by now and i should go see how sticky it still is.