December 14, 2008
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Tales of Baby Brat
Most people in charge of a baby that is not theirs get the weekend off. MOST people. At least I had the morning free and got to sleep in, which was just as well since I didn’t sleep soundly until I heard the Princess come in at 3 am. Once I knew she was home (she was at a combination Christmas/birthday party for her best buddy, Johnnycakes.
After the party, they stopped at his house so she could pick up her car and got to spend a little time with HIS mother (whom, I gather, suffers from the same problem I do when one of her kids isn’t home). Damn those kids and damn genetics or whatever it is that plague us mothers our whole lives. Just when you think it’s over, you find out it ISN’T. 
Anyway, Chewlee was down for her nap when the Princess had to head off to work and tonight (and every night until Christmas except Sundays) the store is open until 10 pm. As assistant manager, she has to stay until everything is set up for morning and the store thoroughly cleaned. Then she sets the alarm and locks up. That means she won’t get home until around 10:30 or so. The baby will go all day without seeing her mother and will (hopefully) be sound asleep when she gets home. Not good for a baby that adores her mother and sees her in just about every attractive woman with long hair she sees in a magazine or a television commercial.
When she got up, I did the usual changing of the diaper and fed her before letting her run around and play with Baron. The two of them went running back and forth, through the house, taking turns playing tag. Then Baron spied his ball and decided it was time to play *catch*. Of course, HIS idea of catch is you throw it to him the first time and then it becomes a game of *tug* with YOU trying to tug it out of his teeth. He hasn’t gotten the idea yet that we can’t throw it unless he lets go of it. But, we were ready for that today.
I had my short robe on and he dropped it in my lap with his nose right ON the ball waiting for me to *go for it*. I, being smarter I think, pushed my robe OVER the ball and was able to get it in hand before he could fight me for it. First I threw it and he jumped up in the air and caught it. The baby started clapping her hands excitedly and yelling *Yay! Yay!* for his prowess. Baron, thinking I wasn’t playing HIS game right then trotted over to the Beast and attempted his little deception with a new subject. The Beast, however, pretended he was too busy watching TV and ignored him, at which point Baron looked up and away from the ball at the Beast’s face and the Beast quickly grabbed up the ball and went to throw it for the dog to catch. He did it with ease and came back to ME. Well, let’s just say that Baron never wised up so we were able to get the ball away from him easily. Chewlee decided SHE wanted to have her turn throwing the ball (she also has a problem with giving up the ball) so we had to *help* her to make sure she didn’t forget to let go.
One of the things we are noticing is Chewlee is starting to favor her left hand more than her right. We don’t want to force her to use either one but let her change hands as she pleases. We continued this routine for another 10 minutes and Baron rarely missed the ball except for when the baby *threw* it, which mostly was her trying NOT to let go and it bouncing off the coffee table. He would still manage to catch it before it bounced a second time.
The adults tired of all this before the two *kids* did so we finally let Chewlee run around with the ball while Baron chased her. He wouldn’t grab it out of her hands but he did chase after her, hoping, I think, that she would drop it. She ran with it tucked against her like a little football player and doing a half-assed happy dance run that was too funny for words.
When she finally threw it one last time, she headed for her bottle and blankey and headed for *my* room. I followed her and saw her grab the pillow I keep on my computer chair for my back and throw it down on the floor (the little stinker) and then she dropped down, rolled over so her head was on it and snuggled her blanket next to her face while she drank her bottle and watched TV. She was pooped out. For about a half hour, she was very content and I could read my email and comics and chat for a bit with one of my sisters and then two friends.
After her rest, it was time for her snack so she announced *eat* and headed out the door to her high chair. It’s MY job to lift her up and then have food ready for her IMMEDIATELY. She gets very upset when she doesn’t have SOMETHING to eat within a few seconds. I, being smarter I think, have some ready to eat stuff I keep here just for her. One I think is AWFUL but she loves. It’s a Gerber’s Graduate Snack called Peach Yogurt Puffs or some such thing. Pure air. No real flavor that *I* can discern because I DID try one ONCE. Once was more than enough for me but I do trust Gerber’s so I will give her a few while I prepare something more nutritious for her.
Today she had some warm ham pieces, some green beans and some apple slices. I bought some green bean *cups* that are the perfect size for her snacks. Not too big, not too small…just right.
If left up to her, she could eat a whole can because she just loves them. She even likes them cold. Today she wanted to read books and look at pictures. She loves to pull out one of my photo albums and have me tell her who all the people are while she looks intently for pictures of her mommy. She now recognizes pictures of her mother when SHE was a little girl but only because *I* told her those were her mommy. I don’t think she really believes that is HER mommy but who knows the mind of a child. To HER, it might just be that the baby I am showing her is named Mommy.
I know I mentioned I would tell you about how I got her to settle down while I was preparing dinner but this blog is become a bit long so it will have to wait until tomorrow. I will tell you that today she helped me make dinner AND some peanut butter cookies with only a few bouts of running around with Baron. After we ate dinner (boneless beef ribs, buttered noodles and steamed broccoli), she started acting like she was tired again, to my surprise, so I laid her down for a little nap. She not only really WAS tired but insisted on a night-night kiss and went right to sleep. I knew she wouldn’t be down long and planned on bathing her when she woke up. Sure enough, after about an hour, she was up and ready to rock-and-roll.
Bath time tonight was a real treat. I washed my hair and let her help me so she didn’t give me a lot of trouble when I went to wash HERS. She even grabbed her bucket and wanted me to pour water over her head which was a real first. Before this, if you even looked like you were going to do such a thing, she would jump up, run to a corner and hide her head. Of course, that wouldn’t stop anyone who was determined but today she didn’t do it. Because she was so good, I let her have more play time in the tub. She still has to work on leaning her head back a bit more than she did but it’s baby steps in more ways than one when dealing with a baby. She’ll eventually get it. I have learned to keep a wash rag handy AND a hand towel so she can wipe off her face when she sputters from water dripping down over it.
She loves her pajamas. She even has her own favorites. She loves the new footed pajamas I bought her but doesn’t really like not having socks on her feet when she wears them. No clue why she would feel like that but she’s gotten used to having them on her feet at night, I guess. The footed pajamas just don’t feel the same, I guess. She also has some very soft flannel pajamas with Disney characters on them that she loves. I will often let her pick out which ones she will put on and it is fun to watch her thinking and looking at them all before she finally picks out one. Such BIG decisions.
Time to go. I want to get some Christmas shopping done tomorrow since the Princess has a short day, so-to-speak. She works from 3pm until 9pm so I will have plenty of time to wake up and let the day warm up before I have to leave. I’ll just hit Wal-Mart and Belks with a short stop at Dollar General for some plastic bins for packing away summer clothes now that we are all sure that summer is over. *Note: that is a joke just in case you weren’t sure*.
Love you all. Have a wonderful day. Just 13 days until Christmas. Is YOUR shopping done? Is it even started?
