...that this has happened more than once: If I'm trying to get an antsy and wiggly Liam to fall asleep with shush-ing and singing and humming and gentleness and one of his dear older siblings busts into his room (in blatant disregard of the "IF LIAM'S DOOR IS SHUT AND HIS LIGHT IS OFF DO NOT ENTER" rule, I might add) I make all sorts of overly dramatic faces and hand waves at them to GET OUT QUIETLY. Usually they recognize the crazed look in my eye and hightail it out of there. But a couple times they haven't and they've decided they must speak to me immediately. I will try several minutes of frustrated whispering in an attempt to not ruin the soothing atmosphere for Liam, but finally I end up snapping loudly at them in that exasperated-mommy-voice something like, "That is it! OUT! NOW! Don't make me tell you again!" and when the child leaves I glance down at Liam....and he's asleep.
Yes, it seems that I use my "you're in deep trouble" voice so often that my baby finds it soothing.
...'cause I'm not.
Did I mention it causes him to go to sleep?
Therapy can be dealt with later.
For now sleep is good.
No matter what.
**************
Should I be worried....
...about this?
Today during school, D and I read part of a children's version of The Odyssey while Belle played with trains. Somehow Homer was left out of my education or I would have known that The Odyssey is pretty gruesome and perhaps not fit for a children's version. But, never one to deviate from a plan, we have just forged ahead through a man-eating cyclops and a dreadful storm to reach today's cannibal giants. I did have to explain that a cannibal was someone who ate people but D seemed sort of unimpressed by this horror so we read on as Odysseus' men were eaten. (You are all applauding my mothering skills right now, aren't you?) Anyway, after we were done the kids went off to play something and I went upstairs to get Liam and when I got back D said, "Belle drew a picture of a cannibal giant!" What? I thought she was playing trains, not having her innocent 2-year-old psyche marred by Homer!
"Yup," she says cheerfully, showing me her bubblegum-pink paper and pointing to the little circle things, "and these are the people it's eating."
...'cause I'm not.
OK, I sort of am. But seeing as she usually draws sweet things, I think I'm going to choose to think of it as the fact that my two year old has begun illustrating classical literature instead of that she drew a cannibal giant actually caught in the act of cannibalism. And yes, I threw out that picture during nap time and wished the cute picture she drew of me on the chalkboard was savable. I think tomorrow we'll read Winnie the Pooh.
**************
Should I be worried....
...that D created a new (wildly popular) game called Throw the Baby? Before you panic, the babies being thrown are baby dolls who, granted, have big clunky plastic heads and bean-baggy bodies making them spectacular projectiles. For two days now a substantial amount of time has been spent by Belle and D launching their babies down stairs, over railings and into baby swings (empty swings, don't worry).
Frankly this is the worrisome one and has left me making many statements like, "I don't think you guys are allowed near Liam!" or "Now, you guys know we never throw real babies, right?" To which D rolls his eyes and says, "Of course we would never throw a real baby. This is a game for toy babies." You bet your tush it is, kid.
But any game that encourages so much happy play between D and Belle (really, peals of laughter for half hours at a time...) is worth it. At least I hope it is...
My sister and I played John Lennon and Yoko Ono and one of us pretended to be shot while the other one wept and we turned out fine. Well, I take that back. My sister turned out fine.
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