The Wildebeest Part 1

Remembering Better Days

Analise had quite the day yesterday.

My usually cheerful and compliant (with lots of reminders and gentle nudges) baby girl decided that she would do absolutely nothing that was so much as hinted at by anyone else.

The day started pretty normally, even better than usual, without the morning crankies she usually experiences. She even doted on Daddy, cuddling with him in his chair before he was off to work, a phenomena until recently reserved for Mommy.

She and Nicolas were off to a friend's house first thing so I could go to a doctor's appointment. I was happy to help her put on her preferred jacket.

Next came shoes ... the downfall of our day.

As I started to put on her tennis shoes, Nicolas asked if he could wear his sandals. Since we would be home before school, I said sure without thinking

Analise immediately demanded her sandals.

What would normally be a simple lesson of using sweet words and a sweet voice to make requests became our impasse. Her sandals were somewhere in the backyard where she took them off yesterday and refused to look for them. I had looked but not too hard since she would have to go out on and find them if she wanted to wear them again.

I did not have another pair of sandals to offer (not that anything else would have sufficed).

We were walking a fine line between being on time or late for my appointment, so a last minute search session just wasn't feasible.

Which would be a logical argument for any rational human being. But 3-year-olds are more akin to monkeys from whom you've stolen a banana than rational human beings, screaming, chest-thumping, arms flailing and all.

I fought Analise into her shoes only to have her remove them before we were out the door. So, into her car seat she went, shoe-less.  I had to fight her into the straps, using the buckles to hold her in while I tried to wrest her flailing arms under the straps to buckle the chest clip.

After what was an uneventful stay at a friend's house, we repeated the above wrestling match to get her back in the car seat, this time with considerably more arm flailing, screaming and board-stiff back.

Things did not get better from there. She went to her room to cool off when we arrived home. Screaming, thumping and wailing ensued.

Then she calmed down and shouted a request to go potty. Up I went. The stench in the room gave me all the proof I needed that she'd already done the deed. While I was assessing the situation, Analise ran to the bathroom and removed the soiled pull up. Screaming battle ensued as I wiped her clean.

Then came the struggle to put on any kind of underwear, diaper or pants. So, she was left in the room with her options to decide for herself while I checked on Nicolas and his lunch.

When I returned, she was completely naked. I tried to coax her back into her clothes, her PJs, anything but nothing, but the screaming failing wildebeest would not be tamed.

I left her, completely naked, curled up in a ball in the corner behind her bed - a sad sight by anyone's standards.

After an hour of silence I heard her bumping around and went to check on her only to find her in a diaper and her pajamas. When I told her we needed to go get the boys she immediately took off her jammy bottoms and began to take off her diaper. Luckily I was able to forcibly keep it on her. She went into her car seat in socks, shoes, diaper and jacket. A wonderful sight.

I utilized the full resources of my mini van to mesmerize her with a video during pick up and errand running. She remained calm as long as no one looked at or touched her. She fell asleep from 4:30 til 5:30 p.m., an unexpected blessing.

Daddy was home by the time we returned. She refused to sit down to eat dinner with us, opting instead to roll around on the rug in her diaper and make demands from time to time.

After dinner she sauntered over to the table and asked daddy to cuddle. They spent a few minutes sitting together in Daddy's easy chair before he needed to leave for t-ball with Lucas.

Ever since she has been her delightful, adorable self, heeding reminders and remembering boundaries.

Figures.

 All she needed was a hug from her daddy.

What's a mama to do?