Tread On, Worn Down, Stressed Out, and Thrilled

Let me tell you a little about my day. I'll try to keep it in a nutshell, but I make no promises--especially since it starts last night...it's been a long one.

I found out last night some sad news. I won't go into detail since the rest of this post would seem odd, if not inappropriate. Just know that although sad, it was also expected and in many ways (to me at least) relieving. With this news though--however lacking in shock I may be--came a lack of sleep. I fell asleep two hours later than usual. This morning, I was opening my door at 6:45 to greet the baby boy I've been watching all week. Normally he pouts for a bit after being dropped off, but this morning I had to literally pry him off his mother. 

"Sorry, he woke up really grumpy this morning," she said. 

"Oh, not to worry! Come, little guy, let's be happy!" I said cheerily as I pulled him screaming from his mum. 

He cried for a half hour. Madie--who had been happy and perky when I put her to bed 12 hours earlier--also awoke slightly disgruntled. But who can blame her--she was woken by a wailing 11-month old. 

The real fun began when another friend knocked on the door at 8:40. 

"Madie! Your friends are here!" I chirped. Addison and Madie knew each other well and I was sure this would entertain her. Everything was great for the first hour: Madie, Addison, and Emma (Addie's older sister) watched some Winnie the Pooh while I picked up, showered, etc. and Kaleb napped. But sometime right before we hit the home stretch before their mum showed up it all fell apart. Kaleb woke up still not happy; Addie kept experimenting with Kaleb's face ("What will he do when I poke him in the eye? What will he do when I pinch his cheeks?"); Emma kept informing me of Addie's misdeeds even as I witnessed them; and Madie kept screaming at everyone to STOP TOUCHING HER THINGS! (Like the animal crackers Addison and Emma brought.)

My friend probably thought Armageddon had started in the small upstairs apartment in which I live. An hour later, with both her daughters gone, Madie and Kaleb fed and down for their afternoon naps, I thought I would enjoy a relatively quiet afternoon. But Kaleb and Madie woke very much in the same moods as before. Kaleb cried over any reason he could find, and Madie gave him plenty of reasons to cry. But a few hours later, as Kaleb's mum came to pick him up, I again had the feeling I would be enjoying a nice evening, with my husband home and a daughter who no longer had anyone to be stingy to. Again, I was proven wrong. 

I thought I'd go nuts if I had to listen to Madie scream or cry one more time while I was making dinner and Mike was in the bedroom listening to his lecture, so she was shut in her room. Shut. I don't usually close the door when I put her in her room since she can't open it up again when she's calmed down. But today I felt it would be safer for everyone if her door was closed.

At the end of dinner--and my rope--my neighbors knocked on the door.

"Here we are!" 

"Yes! Here you are! Come here, Vahan," I said as I reached out for their 11-month-old son. I had forgotten I'd agreed to watch him for an hour. Normally he's a very relaxed kid, though, and I was ready for a happy baby. They closed the door and he started crying. Of course.

And of course, Madie was as stingy with him as with everyone else. In a fit of rage over not being allowed to steal Vahan's own toy from him, she threw a block across the room, so I foot-balled her and flossed and brushed her teeth. When I set her down to undress her she screamed, "Poo-poo!" So I stripped her and sat her on her toilet seat and in the middle of my heated lecture to her on sharing (what can I say? I'm my father's daughter.) I heard it. I heard it!

An unmistakable and continuous tinkling.

It was like a church bell at noon.

I stopped mid-sentence and she stopped mid-cry. I smiled big while she gave me a startled stare. 

"Oh! Madie! Oh, Madie! Give me five!" She grinned and gave me five. Then five again. "Do you want THREE POTTY CANDIES!" (Yes. I've been bribing her for a week now, and to no avail.) 

"YESH!" she shouted.

With the potty candies distributed I lifted her up and wiped her clean. Oh, finally! FINALLY! This is it folks! That first one has got to be the hardest one, I'm sure of it. And I know Madie--now that she's done it once, she'll do it again and again. Oh happy day! All my trials have been redeemed! Who knew I just needed to get her so upset she would stop thinking about it?! EUREKA! Glorious day! And now, it will be recorded forever in the annals of Watkins Family History. Let the headlines read: 

"On September 21, Lady Madeleine Pees!"