Bad mom...

I love my children. Truly, I do. And I encourage them to do their best (and have high standards for what their best should be). I am supportive. Really. I go to every possible activity, be it scholastic, athletic, music-oriented, or religious. I holler for them (and everyone else, which drives my boys crazy...but hey, I've watched their friends grow up so those kids are kind of mine too).

Today, the stage mom came out. I said I'd blog it, so here goes. I hauled my cookies up to Chelsea, Michigan for a track meet today--one that was supposed to start at 4:00, but got rolling at 3:00 instead. Matt was scheduled (as usual) for 3 events: shot put, 400m, 4x400m relay. I am going start by congratulating him for taking second in the shot put and achieving a personal best. I didn't watch that event, but I would have whooped and hollered and given him an atta boy (and told him I loved him and thoroughly embarrassed him). Next up was the 400. He's usually pretty good at the 400, but something was off today. He started out okay, but seemed totally gassed at the end. He eased up APPROACHING the finish line, and lost TWO positions at the tape. Being the highly supportive mom that I am, I think something that contained the phrase "lazy butt" came out of my mouth. Loudly. My Blonde Highlights buddy was sitting right in front of me, so I have to fess up, and I have promised not to yell out any similar comments during her 8th Grade recognition speech.

OK, it gets worse. Sort of. In the 4x400 relay, the boys and girls ran simultaneously. Matt has a friend, Kelsey, who was going to run anchor for the girls while Matt was anchoring the boys B line (he's usually an A-line, but not today). Kelsey and Matt are like siblings. They lived next door to each other from the time they were 2 until they were 8. We started encouraging Kelsey to beat Matt (and told Matt he was walking home if he lost to Kelsey). Now, this is unfair, although Matt did take the hand-off ahead of Kelsey. See, Kelsey is the school record holder for the 400m for the girls, and her time is pretty close to what the top boys run. Kelsey prevailed, the kids laughed, and I think Matt has forgiven me. Sorry kiddo. Bad mom. Bad, bad mom.

ADDENDUM: I need to point out that Rebecca from Blonde Highlights was cheering Matt on even as I was being the manic mom. (and I was cheering for hers--speedy boy that one, and nice to boot.)