How I wrecked my daughter's existence on Friday afternoon

Remember Friday? The phone call to the Department of Health with all that farting going on in the background? Long day, but you know, we finished early! Dr. McFussy finished early! Do you know how unheard of that is?? NO? Well, rest assured, it's rare. I happily buzzed across the street to daycare to pick up my darling daughter at the prime hour of 4:45 p.m. to be greeted by the following scene:

Me: (Bouncing in to Zoey's classroom, certain she will be thrilled to see me) Hi Zoey!! Mommy came to get you early!

Zoey: (Total look of annoyance on her scowling face) No! I want to watch the moobee! (movie)

Me: Well, but bug, Mommy is here, so it's time to go home...come on, let's get your blanket!

Zoey: (Tears are starting, as well as the shrieking) No! NO!! It's moobee day! I WANT TO WATCH THE MOOBEE!

Apparently, the last Friday of every month is Movie Day at daycare. And Zoey's mother, because she is obviously wicked and only out to ruin her daughter's life, had the audacity to show up before the movie started and prevent Zoey from having any fun in her life, ever.

Because that is so my job.

So anyway, after a lot of shrieking and kicking and juggling of art projects and thrashing and hissing-Mommy-voice and a well-deserved time-out in the hallway, I dragged my devastated child from her beloved daycare, wrangled her in to her carseat, and proceeded to listen to her cry and tell me she wanted Daddy to pick her up, not Mommy!! all the way home.

I was somewhat crushed by how this whole pick-up process had played out, but you know what I realized, after thinking about it like all weekend? I think I stress myself out about having Zoey picked up as early in the day as possible, because I feel like she'll be so unbelievably sad if she's the last kid standing in her big, empty classroom. Clearly, this is not the case. This is just another form of Mommy Guilt playing out--I feel guilty that she has to be in daycare for three long days each week, and I assume that she wants nothing more than to see her Mom walk through the door at the end of the day. What I forget is that my small child is nothing if not a social butterfly, and at an age where routine and consistency are key. If Moobee Time is what's on the agenda for the day and what she's expecting to have happen next, well, then we should all pity the mother who walks in the door to tell her otherwise, as this mother's life will be a holy living hell as she tries to re-route her daughter's plans. What I should have done on Friday afternoon was zip up the hill to Target for some much-needed Mommy time, returning to daycare at a more respectable hour and far past the start of Moobee Time, and we both would have been happy. She's not even three yet, but she's already got her own ideas of how she'd like to spend her time...and it isn't always with Mommy.

I guess that's okay.