There are a couple of things that the Kiddo did recently that I keep forgetting to talk about here that are kind of amusing… So, before I forget again… 

The first thing happened one night after I put her to bed.  After about 15 minutes of quiet, we heard her open her door and she hollered at us about being ready to go.  Go where, I have no idea, but she was ready to go. (she can’t get out because we keep a baby gate on her door to keep her in at night, and she *knocks on wood* hasn’t figured out how to climb over it yet)

So I walk back to her room, readying “stern mom” mode, and see her poking her head over the gate with a huge grin on her face.  And then I notice, she isn’t wearing her jammies, but she IS wearing clothing.

The little stinker got into her dresser drawers, pulled out a pair of size 24 month pants and 24 month shirt, stripped off her jammies and put on the one-size too small clothes.  AND socks. LOL

I couldn’t help but laugh as I asked her what she thought she was doing, and explained to her it was bedtime, not time to go anywhere but to bed, and then helped her back into her jammies.  I still am not sure where she thought she was going to go.  But I do know she’d been constantly asking to go to Grandma’s all that week.  It’s a good thing we keep a gate on her door, I think if it hadn’t been there she would have strolled out with her blankie bear and tag pillow in head, heading for the front door! LOL

The second thing happened a couple days later.  When I went in to wake her up to get her ready for school, at some time during the night, she had put on one sneaker, and had a sandal on her bed. 

I guess on one hand it’s great to know she can dress herself and put her shoes on, but on the other I am starting to wonder if I should turn the lock on her door around so it’s on the outside and start locking her in at night.  If she ever figures out how to climb over the baby gate, I am almost afraid to wonder if she would actually make it outside and start heading to Grandma’s house at 2am!  (Yes, she can both unlock and open the front door! That is why the baby gate is in place every night!) 

One of my very favorite things that the Kiddo likes to do right now before she goes to bed at night, is to climb into my lap and be held “baby” style, while either I sing alone, or she sings with me – “Rock a-bye Baby”.  Currently, she likes to have me/us insert various names in place of “baby” – hers, mommy, daddy, her cousins, etc..

If I’m short on time, that is, if she’s going to bed later than planned, I’ll try to keep it limited to just one or two rounds.  But on nights when there is no hurry, we’ll sing as many versions as she can think up people’s names, and sometimes even starting over if she doesn’t grow bored with it.

I consider myself lucky she even wants to sit in my lap before bed anymore.  For the longest time, she’d want to sit with me until she got drowsy.  Then she went through a period where she wanted nothing to do with sitting with me, she’d just climb in bed, get her good-night kisses and tucked in, and go to sleep – much to my chagrine.  But now she’s into this rock a-bye baby thing, and frankly I am quite completely fine with that.  Before long she won’t want to do any of it anymore, so I will let her do this as long as she pleases., because I know it will tear me up when she doesn’t want it anymore.

So last night, we went to dinner at Red Lobster with my husband’s mom & step-dad, to partake in RL’s Shrimp Fest all-you-can eat dealie.  Yummy!  Well, that also meant we got home a little later than we anticipated.  The Kiddo really needed a bath, but 1) it was already bedtime when we got home, and 2) it was starting to storm outside with lightening, so there was no way I was putting her in the bathtub and risk getting us both fried.

So, I decided I’d try to give her a bath first thing in the morning.  My husband usually showers in the hall bath, so he said he’d just use the stall shower in our master bathroom, and I could use the hall bathtub for the Kiddo at the same time.

First of all, she’s cranky in the mornings.  Kind of like both me and my husband.  Usually she likes taking baths.  But first thing in the morning? Not so much.  When I woke her up and asked her if she wanted to take a bath, she pouted and said “no!”, and threw herself back down into her pillow, complete with thumb-in-mouth.  A clear signal – go away mommy, I’m going back to sleep!

I said “Fine,” and walked into the bathroom and shut off the water, and started getting dressed.  Being cranky myself, I also told her she can go to school stinky and with her hair gross if she wanted, no skin off my back.  Not my finest moment, for sure.

Finally with a little more coaxing and some tears on her part, I got her into the bathtub.  Then she didn’t want to get wet (any more than just her legs).  *sigh*  More coaxing, more whining and tears, and we got her quickly soaped up and rinsed off.  She likes to help wash so that helped change her mood a little, which made washing her hair (which was the entire goal, since it was quite icky from running around and sweating yesterday) much easier.

I think that will be the last morning bath for her for a while.  Next time I’ll just wet her hair down and comb it out, and save bath time for night like usual as long as there aren’t any storms.  Lesson learned.  

Cranky toddler + morning bath = even more cranky toddler + a cranky mom