It started badly when Chicklet became upset that I had cleaned her play room. Apparently, she had arranged some special toys in a special way as a surprise for Mama and now her floor was completely bare, much to her dismay and distress!
She discovered this just as Mama phoned from New York, so she had tears rolling down her cheeks telling us about Mama's special surprise being ruined, with Mama on the phone also in tears because she couldn't bare to hear her bubba so upset and not be able to comfort her.
*sigh*
By the end of the phone call, Chicklet was laughing and having a competition with Mama about who loved whom the best.
I promised to help her put everything back the way she had it, but she couldn't remember how it was. She told me that her Octonauts were in a special box, but I know that her Octonauts were scattered all over the floor .. they were probably the only toys that I took any notice of while I was cleaning!
So it was a bad start to a bad day.
We tried to play 'I Spy' in the car while we were on our way to Underwater World, but she got very frustrated when we couldn't guess her 'H' word. Her clue was 'there is one in every car'. Eventually, we discovered that her word was 'people' .. therefore understandable that we didn't get it!
Nonetheless, she was not happy with us.
At this point I got my Intune out and rubbed a drop on her jeans. She was calm for the remainder of the trip and was pretty good throughout the day, sometimes a little manic and it was difficult to get her attention at times because she was focussed on other kids, but nothing that we couldn't handle. She was easily distracted with bargaining and compromising.
We stopped for a break at the kiosk .. first buying a lizard toy from the gift store .. and then Dadu bought her a chocolate paddlepop. At the time, I wondered about the ingredients, but decided that after all this time, Dadu would know what was gluten free and what wasn't, but having looked it up this afternoon, Paddle Pops contain gluten AND they are obviously full of dairy, which we are supposed to be avoiding.
This appears to be the trigger that took us over the edge this afternoon.
After a great day at Underwater World and a quiet trip home in the car, Dadu was exhausted and needed a nap, or at least some quiet time, so Chicklet went to her play room with a plate of egg and salad (which didn't get touched) and I headed to my room and closed the door.
I figured that the two of them would have their quiet time and then spend the afternoon together doing activities and playing under the snake sprinkler.
I had my fan on high, which creates a kind of white noise .. almost impossible to even hear a soft knock on my door, let alone anything that's happening in the house, but there was definitely meltdown screaming happening and her name being uttered sternly many times.
She knocked on my door about 90 minutes after I'd closed it and requested that I play the Minion game and then demanded that we do an 'acivity'. By this time, it was already after 5pm and I attempted to dissuade her, but she was insistent, so even though she wanted to do THREE activities, I convinced her that one was all we had time for before dinner and bath!
As Murphy's Law would have it, she chose the most difficult of all the activities in her drawer! Cardboard finger puppets that required much bending of cardboard and matching of numbers and glueing that was difficult to manage on tiny surfaces!
It took Dadu and I at least 30 minutes to put together one finger puppet each while little madam floated around the table asking impossible questions and expecting instant results.
She decided that she was definitely not hungry for dinner tonight and then there was a mini argument over bathing or showering .. it's important to pick your battles, so Chicklet and I won that one deciding on a bath.
The lessons we have learned today:
- Do not clean the play room without Chicklet's permission and/or supervision.
- Do not feed gluten and dairy laden Paddle Pops to Chicklet .. it's the equivalent of feeding a Gremlin after midnight.
It is now the halfway point of my babysitting duties and to put Vegan Chickie's mind at rest (and as I explained to the Bare-chested Chef tonight), I am loving my time with Chicklet. Not once have I pleaded with the Gods above to make the time go faster because every day has been a joy for me. She has been an angel (until today's little hiccup) and she has filled my heart with love every single day and what's more, I have been impressed with my stamina!
I hope that we have built some wonderful memories together and I will look forward to Vegan Chickie's future holidays when I will get to spend more time with my gorgeous girl (until she becomes a teenager and then maybe not so much!). Maybe Mama and Dadu can go on holidays *together* while Chicklet and I have fun!
On saying that, I am also missing Adoring Husband and look forward to seeing him in just over a week .. I will need to undo all the damage that he has done with his 'less than vigilant' eating habits while I've been gone!
Anyway, I'm feeling the love for you all!
Nite all.
No comments:
Post a Comment