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| Rabbi with The Cousin and me |
This is what I look like by noon. You can only imagine what I look like by 5:00 pm.
I've had f*!@#ing Hava Nagila stuck in my head for the last 48 hours.
So, The Cousin got a new toy. By the time Sweet Pea's mom came home at lunch to offer up a little "boob action" for Sweet Pea, I had listened to, danced to and sang Hava Nagila so many times, I thought any slight trace of Jewish heritage I might have, would jump out of my skin and slap me up the side of my head... hard.
"More, Rabbi, peez" was what The Cousin requested OVER AND OVER AGAIN. So I'd squeeze the Rabbi's left foot and the Hebrew folk song would begin again. Even when I hid Rabbi behind a pile of dirty clothes, The Cousin would find him. It's not that I hate Hava Nagila. It's alright.
But I'm sure you'd agree; when you hear even your favorite melody 100 times in a day, it sucks.
Sweet Pea isn't at all interested in Rabbi. She does her own thing and her own thing is fine by her. I dig that about her. I honestly do. Our struggles are lessening actually. The only real one we have, and it's a "doosey", is on the changing table. She still fights me like a caged bull and I still hold her two little ankles up in the air like a plucked chicken. I'm all about not getting the poop all over the table. She's all about winning the battle. She and The Cousin are such polar opposites in so many ways. And though it's The Cousin who's being prepped for the toilet, it's Sweet Pea that thinks she's ready...
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| "I can do anything and my age has nothing to do with it." |
Th Cousin not so much...
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| "Rabbi, pleez." |
The Cousin is very cooperative about diaper changing. She remains still and lets me get the job done quickly and efficiently. She loves a clean diaper and has happily accepted the nickname I've given to her: "Clean Machine".
"Clean Machine" and I have bonded and, as y'all know, it happens during Sweet Pea's naps. This week we made pink play-dough. Totally took me back to my teaching days when play-dough was actually used regularly in Kindergarten and even 1st grade classrooms, not just for fun, but for the healthy development of fine motor skills in young children. Kneading the dough, cutting it with plastic knives, rolling balls of it into worms, etc is proven to help young kids in their abilities to hold pencils, use scissors, connect blocks and manipulatives. And there's the whole brain connection with other areas such as language arts and math. But hey! Now our public education system has nixed the play-dough (and other "play" experiences) in favor of scores. We go straight to the test, and of course, the bubbling in of Scantron sheets beginning at age 5.
It's all about the data I've been told by my teacher pals.
But The Cousin and I, we know better. She poured in all the ingredients, including the strawberry JELL-O for color.
We just had to spend a little time working on not eating it. Once that concept sunk in, it was smooth sailing and lotsa fun!
And, it kept her mind off Rabbi for a good 45 minutes!
~tpg
