4 February 2010

Up until about two weeks ago, I had never changed a diaper. Never really wanted to change a diaper.

I have now changed roughly ten. They were pretty uneventful, outside of one missed-target situation. Either potty successes (that got a thumbs-up and a "Good job!") where the clean diaper went back on... or too-late situations where the little Snuggle-up-agus kept sitting down on the potty, getting up and checking the container, seemingly puzzled by the lack of pee inside. A diaper change isn't a very difficult thing to figure out. Snuggle-up-agus survived. Uncle James survived... and picked up some future embarrassing-story material.

At times doing some baby-sitting, those "Where is your mother!??" J.C. Penney commercials popped into my head. This is the terrible twos, and for all parties concerned, just surviving it is the primary objective. It's not really worth the effort to try to clean up, because beyond a certain point, you're just shoveling sh-- against the tide. There were a few tantrums, which I did not cave in to and try to purchase a temporary smile. The sooner any child learns that she is not going to get her way just because he/she is crying, angry, and throwing a fit, the better (that goes for the "he"s too). We watched "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" about a dozen times, and the "Muppet Show" worked to both get her dancing to the introduction song and getting her to calm down for a nap. Snuggle-up-agus's schedule was shot to smithereens during these couple of weeks, and it really showed up in her naptime. Last Friday, she didn't drift off until almost 3:30 in the afternoon --- her usual time was 1 p.m. S he said, "Eyes huwwt!" "Because you need to take a nap, honey," I said. Such a fighter this one! And she's definitely got the stubborn streak from our side of the tree.

Her mum got home tonight, so that should help insofar as getting back on schedule and injecting a little normalcy.