Can you spot the mitstake?

Jack regressed.

My little man, the first to stay dry through the night and the first to go to the big potty at a restaurant bathroom, is back to pull ups, and not successfully.

If he’s really concentrating at work or play, he forgets. Let’s just say we should probably invest in thick towels to get us through this phase.

I feel terrible. How to help my boy? But, earlier in the day, a friend posted a helpful Huffington Post piece that said: "I want to be a better mother. Not the best mother. Not even a mother who never curses. But I seek to understand the cycle of nurturing -- what we give ourselves, we also give our children."

I’m talking to him, again, using the firm voice recommended by the latest potty-training book I’m hoping will magically save us from pee floors, when my email pings. It’s a message from an editor who had earlier caught an error in my latest story to her. It was a small error, sure, but felt real big to me. I really like this editor. I was very embarrassed, and wondering if she would hire me again. 

I open the email while still admonishing little man about the perils of pee on the floor. I smile real big and clap my hands. Little man is confused. My editor is offering me another job. Jack wants to know why I have tears. I tell him I feel bad because I made a mistake.

He leans in for a big hug and says, “I make mistakes, too.”

A little lesson for mommy in a big way.