It was bound to happen.
I can no longer hide my bad parenting behind a silent daughter.
Now that her words are sprouting words, our little announcer has recently started announcing my faux pas to the world.
Let me set the scene for you: My father took care of Annabel all day Friday, and this was my mid-day report:
PAPA: When I put her down for her nap she asked for 'hot milsh' but I didn't give her any. I told her: 'No, you can't have milk in bed. How about some water'?And what do you think she replied?
ITTYBIT: "MOMMY YETS ME."
Oh jeeze. There it is. She's way too young to be untruthful so I can't really tell him she's making it all up. She's just organizing how things work and trying to get what she wants by telling him how it is around here.
I. AM. GUILTY. Please, GOD, don't let the teeth rot out of her head because I am a bad mommy.
It's not as if I could ever hide my flaws from the true scruitinizers; the rubbernecking, tsk-tsking been-there parents who are watching everyone from the next table at the coffeeshop and passing judgement.
I couldn't control what people thought of me, and for that matter what one woman actually said to my husband when Ittybit was first born and we took her out into the world on the coldest day in history, but I could let it go. I KNEW I was a good mom: I breastfed in public, she nursed for nearly two years and I made all of her first foods with a grinder and a sieve. I knew I loved my little girl. I felt so much like SUPERMOM back then that I even started wearing primary colors.
But for some of us it's easy to be a good mommy when you are in control; when your little princess only requires her basic needs met -- Hungry, check; Tired, check; Wet, check.
There are occasional slip ups for sure. There will be the time you forgot to change a diaper quickly enough, there will be temperatures too hot or too cold, there will be mismatched clothes and going two-days between baths. But no one knows but you.
Today, the mid-day report from Yaya made it perfectly clear who's running things around here:
YAYA: "Opps. Poop."
ITTYBIT: "YeME see it!"
YAYA: "No, that's yukky."
ITTYBIT: "MAMA YETS ME SEE IT."
8 comments:
Jude has figured out who has the soft touch in our house. He starts his demands with my husband, who, not being so good at the Love & Logic yet, usually replies with a "NO".
I can hear these exchanges from my office and know that the toddler footsteps falling down the hallway and the "Mama do it, Mama do it" cries are destined for my door.
As you can see, we are doing some fine parenting ourselves. Jude's only two, but he's already learning the fine art of triagulation.
That is one beautiful girl! Wow! That is a great photo.That's the kind of photo a future partner will want to hang on the wall of their house, it is so adorable.
Correction: that would be "triangulation" for people of the world that appreciate correct spelling!
Life skills begin early: negotiation and leverage :)
By the way, another option for recording ittybit's voice and letting it play on your site is Odeo:
http://odeo.com/help/faq
Thanks, everyone.
And Gail: We ended up buying a new digital camera, although I haven't used it yet. (I just NEVER think about grabbing THAT camera). I also got an ipod ... so now all I have to do is get a recording attachment. My mother-in-law does this for her research, so I'm hoping she can show me how it works.
"But for some of us it's easy to be a good mommy when you are in control; when your little princess only requires her basic needs met -- Hungry, check; Tired, check; Wet, check."
Oh this is so true. It gets harder when the slip ups have more bite. I have been letting my little one back into our bed while my hubs is out of town, and I know I shouldn't be. I just know that both of us are lonely without Daddy and why should we be lonely alone? But it's undoing any progress we've made getting him to sleep in his own bed consistently. However, in the long run, I know that we will still be okay, and it won't really be such a big deal if it takes an extra month or so to get him to sleep in his room. I just like knowing his little body is close by when the big old house is otherwise empty.
Oh goodness! I haven't read your site in weeks due to my trip to London and then to Austin - she looks so grown up in this photo in just a short amount of time! Wow.
It gets even harder when they are teenagers, I promise. And the milk? As long as she brushes, she should be fine. I think it is wonderful that you try so hard to show her all aspects of the world around her.
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