I Know How She Does It: Compromise

Courtesy of Emili Vesilind

I was almost late for the screening of I Don't Know How She Does It, the new Sarah Jessica Parker comedy about a woman juggling motherhood, career and wifedom, because my darling 15-month-old son, Liam, decided that he wanted to wear both of his shoes on the same foot.

Once he discovered the task was impossible, his temperament swung from delightfully determined to rabid-mongoose angry in roughly three seconds. Running way too late to calm him, I turned the job over to his nanny, smooched his chubby cheek and dashed out the door—jumping into my VW and cranking up the radio to suppress the guilt I suddenly felt over missing Liam's bedtime ritual (bath, milk, books, warbling rendition of "Moon River") for the third night in a row.

Related on Bing: I Don't Know How She Does It

Mental note #62: Get home in time for bedtime rigmarole, and then catch up on work after Liam's asleep instead of watching bad reality TV. Wait. Why does my car smell like a frat house kitchen? Mental note #63: Stop leaving half-consumed milk bottles in the back seat to mildew. Mental note #64: Stop numbering your mental notes, you freak.

Based on the novel I Don't Know How She Does It: The Life of Kate Reddy, Working Mother by Allison Pearson, the movie opened this past weekend.