Why Did I Go Back To Get My Kid’s Bottle Even Though I Was Exhausted?

“Those are my mementos, my reminders of this beautiful time, and I don’t want to lose a single one of those,” says this young mother of her baby’s things.

It was not a very good day from the start. My two and a half year old woke up crying like ten times in the night, and all of us didn’t get much sleep as a result. And I for one can’t function without my eight hours sleep.

Somehow I managed to send her to play school on time with her bag of spare clothes, tiffin and her beautiful purple water sipper with the picture of a monkey, lion and giraffe on it.

When I went to pick her up, she was in a good mood. I picked her up and her bag and took her to the play ground which comes on our way back, to her favorite swing as we do daily. After fifteen minutes I asked her to get down so that we could go home. I got the same “No I want more” as I expected, and gave her five more minutes.

When the five minutes got over I asked her again and still I got a no. This time I insisted and told her that we will come again in the evening, but today my kid had something else on her mind.

She didn’t comply today and instead had a meltdown.

As she decided not to walk anymore I had to carry her and her bag in my arms and walk all the way home, which consisted of climbing some twenty steps too. Somehow we got home and after we both calmed down a little, she asked me for some water.

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When I looked into the bag for her bottle I realized that it wasn’t there. I thought maybe it’s left at the play school and called her teacher, but it wasn’t there.

Then we both went to trace our steps back in search of our pretty little bottle but to no avail. I had dropped it somewhere in our frenzy and now it was gone.

I was so disappointed by the fact that I went again to check the whole way but still there was no bottle.

On my way back home I asked myself why was I feeling so sad about losing a simple water bottle. After all it was just a bottle for which I had made two trips to her school in spite of being so tired. It wasn’t even that expensive that I lose my sleep over it. Why then?

And then I realized it’s because it was my kid’s water bottle from which she had been drinking water daily for last six months. It was a part of her childhood. A childhood which we will soon leave behind, with just some memories left. And me, the silly, emotional mother, wants to just gather it together through the smallest things my kid ever touched, worn and played with. Those are my mementos, my reminders of this beautiful time, and I don’t want to lose a single one of those.

I know that I can’t collect all her little things, and there will be a lot more of water bottles and many more things that she will lose as she grows up. But I know this too that I will always be this upset if I lose any of them.

So here is to you our beautiful little purple bottle. You were an important part of my baby girl’s precious childhood!

Image source: shutterstock

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