Lost it with Naomi today... after her nap, she called from her room and I went to get her, but her calling me had woken Gavriel Zev - after NOT LONG ENOUGH for either of them. It was around 4 p.m. and I had just fallen asleep on the sofa - so my main thought was how to get horizontal again.
Blearily, I went to change Naomi's diaper and even though she'd warned me it was dirty, it was a messy one that she ended up stepping in and making a Big Mess. UGH! So then, I got all stern and told her I didn't want to change dirty diapers anymore... that she should do it in the potty. Ugh. Gavriel Zev was crying the whole time I was cleaning Naomi Rivka up, in the sink, with cold water - nice. :-(
Finally, I handed her a pair of underpants and went to him. I was hoping HOPING hoping that with a little nummies & some quiet, mellow time, he'd go back to sleep. Quiet mellow time with his big sister around - ha! I picked him up and started nummying him only to have Naomi come in with the underpants she'd been unable to finagle onto her legs.
She was standing up to do it, teetering and trying to stuff both legs into the same hole. I strongly suggested sitting down to put on the underpants and eventually, she managed it - backwards. I didn't say a thing.
But then, she finally noticed a) that I was horizontal, and b) that Gavriel Zev was having nummies... and announced "I want nummies!" She climbed up and started pulling my shirt away and I said, "No. You don't always have to have nummies when you wake up - now be quiet and cuddle." Ha. That's like telling a man you just want to cuddle. No way she'll take that for an answer with fresh, warm nummies two inches away.
So she started crying. So I said "be quiet". Rather abruptly. She gave me this LOOK like I had utterly betrayed her... like a lover who'd scorned her after three years of amourous passion - which is about right, I guess. And slid out of the bed to toddle off to find Abba.
The happy ending: Naomi was happy to "just cuddle" with Abba, who never gave her nummies in the first place. And she was so tired from the ordeal that she fell back asleep for another hour and a half. And Gavriel Zev also slipped off into dreamland... so I tucked him in, excused myself to the sofa and had my own "Shabbos shluff" until about quarter to six, when Naomi finally woke up and came to say hi.
Hmm... started posting this as a story of Parenting Failure, but somehow, I can't find the failure in this story. Yes, I pretty much pushed Naomi away instead of giving her nummies. And I guess I could have spoken more nicely to her instead of snapping. But everybody needed more sleep - and everybody got more sleep. I can live with that.
<3 J
Comments
Post a Comment
I love your comments!