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Would you think less of my parenting skills if I admitted that yesterday in Trader Joe's, I bought a box of cookies just to have something to bribe K with on the ride home?
Would it make a difference if I shared how I was facing 5:00 Philly traffic, and K had refused to sit in the cart and instead insisted on walking between my legs, "helping" me push the cart?
Very cute, I know, particularly when she would ceremoniously point at everything I would put in the cart. But it was late and crowded, and her idea of when we should go forward didn't necessarily mesh with mine. Neither did her ideas of when we should stop, which made life adventurous when I would try to pause to take something off the shelf. So after pushing and pulling K through the crowded narrow aisles trying to keep the cart from leaping off into odd directions, I felt that a few cookies that weren't any worse nutritionally than animal crackers or graham crackers were well worth the possibility that the inside of the car might be peaceful even if all of the minions of Hell were howling outside our windows in the form of my fellow Philadelphia drivers.*
On the child-entertainment front, the playground and the storytime were both successes. The playground was small, but had swings and slides which is all K cared about. And we discovered that one of the suburban libraries has a drop-in story hour. It was staffed by an elderly volunteer, so it wasn't quite as good as the sort of program you would get from actual library staff, but K enjoyed herself and we got out of the house. We might try the indoor playground tomorrow if I can get grocery shopping done in the morning while![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
longstrider is home.
K is in a huge Mama phase right now, where only I will do andlongstrider carrying her away to another room so I can have some time off results in huge wailing. And I was puzzling over it because she had been fine with him in December and I was actually a little afraid she was going to start preferring him. But then I had an epiphany: she's mad at him for going back to work. To be honest, I'm not thrilled about the being left home alone all day myself, but at least I understand that gainful employment brings positive things like money for food. Poor K has been dragged through three homes in three months and now her Daddy has abandoned her. No wonder she's clinging to me so hard.
Although as much as I feel sympathy for her, I kind of wish I could give her some toddler Prozac because the clinginess is really starting to drag on me. Since I started up with Ebay again, I'm working the equivalent of two jobs, which is a bit tiring. So it would be nice to be able to have some time off without a toddler wailing at the gate at the top of the stairs.
*I have decided I hate every single driver in Philadelphia. Every. Single. One. They all do dangerous, insane things that force me to do dangerous things just so we don't die. Like the other day when I was in a left turn lane but was forced to go straight because the person to my left had decided he wanted to go straight. Or when I had to make a wild turn in front of oncoming traffic because of the person attempting to turn left into the left turn lane right where I was. I regularly see people make turns by simply pushing themselves in front of oncoming traffic, or make left turns from the right lane across five lanes of traffic. It's insane.
Reading this over, this is a snarly sort of post. I think I'm feeling tired and a bit homesick. I should probably go finish the work I need to do and see if going to bed will improve my attitude.
Would it make a difference if I shared how I was facing 5:00 Philly traffic, and K had refused to sit in the cart and instead insisted on walking between my legs, "helping" me push the cart?
Very cute, I know, particularly when she would ceremoniously point at everything I would put in the cart. But it was late and crowded, and her idea of when we should go forward didn't necessarily mesh with mine. Neither did her ideas of when we should stop, which made life adventurous when I would try to pause to take something off the shelf. So after pushing and pulling K through the crowded narrow aisles trying to keep the cart from leaping off into odd directions, I felt that a few cookies that weren't any worse nutritionally than animal crackers or graham crackers were well worth the possibility that the inside of the car might be peaceful even if all of the minions of Hell were howling outside our windows in the form of my fellow Philadelphia drivers.*
On the child-entertainment front, the playground and the storytime were both successes. The playground was small, but had swings and slides which is all K cared about. And we discovered that one of the suburban libraries has a drop-in story hour. It was staffed by an elderly volunteer, so it wasn't quite as good as the sort of program you would get from actual library staff, but K enjoyed herself and we got out of the house. We might try the indoor playground tomorrow if I can get grocery shopping done in the morning while
longstrider is home.K is in a huge Mama phase right now, where only I will do and
longstrider carrying her away to another room so I can have some time off results in huge wailing. And I was puzzling over it because she had been fine with him in December and I was actually a little afraid she was going to start preferring him. But then I had an epiphany: she's mad at him for going back to work. To be honest, I'm not thrilled about the being left home alone all day myself, but at least I understand that gainful employment brings positive things like money for food. Poor K has been dragged through three homes in three months and now her Daddy has abandoned her. No wonder she's clinging to me so hard. Although as much as I feel sympathy for her, I kind of wish I could give her some toddler Prozac because the clinginess is really starting to drag on me. Since I started up with Ebay again, I'm working the equivalent of two jobs, which is a bit tiring. So it would be nice to be able to have some time off without a toddler wailing at the gate at the top of the stairs.
*I have decided I hate every single driver in Philadelphia. Every. Single. One. They all do dangerous, insane things that force me to do dangerous things just so we don't die. Like the other day when I was in a left turn lane but was forced to go straight because the person to my left had decided he wanted to go straight. Or when I had to make a wild turn in front of oncoming traffic because of the person attempting to turn left into the left turn lane right where I was. I regularly see people make turns by simply pushing themselves in front of oncoming traffic, or make left turns from the right lane across five lanes of traffic. It's insane.
Reading this over, this is a snarly sort of post. I think I'm feeling tired and a bit homesick. I should probably go finish the work I need to do and see if going to bed will improve my attitude.
