Thursday, May 10, 2007
Dear Chloe
Dear Chloe:
Please stop pooping right before you fall asleep for your nap. It leaves me with the decision of whether to wake you up to change your diaper, or letting you sleep in your poop. The former always results in a complete boneless breakdown after which you typically will not go back to sleep, and will remain in a crabby mood until bed time. The latter causes your skin to burn, making you miserable for a couple of days.
Your bum and its comfort inevitably wins.
I've tried making a later naptime, but you keep holding it until I lay you down. I urge you to reconsider this modus operandi.
I thank you for your consideration in this matter.
Sincerely,
Mama
Please stop pooping right before you fall asleep for your nap. It leaves me with the decision of whether to wake you up to change your diaper, or letting you sleep in your poop. The former always results in a complete boneless breakdown after which you typically will not go back to sleep, and will remain in a crabby mood until bed time. The latter causes your skin to burn, making you miserable for a couple of days.
Your bum and its comfort inevitably wins.
I've tried making a later naptime, but you keep holding it until I lay you down. I urge you to reconsider this modus operandi.
I thank you for your consideration in this matter.
Sincerely,
Mama
Yup, she's mine
Like mother, like daughter. Chloe knows what she wants:
1. The Clifford book must go in the basket, facing forward, right side up. Any other way is wrong.
2. In order to get up for the day, the contents of her crib must be transported from her crib to the rocking chair in the following order: cat, pooh, grover, muffy, green blanket, purple blanket, then Chloe, carrying her Elmo, Cookie and cow. Do not touch the cow. Do not move anything without her first saying "(blank) to the chair" and handing it to you. Else, you must dry her tears and start from the beginning.
3. Right sock on, right shoe on; left sock on, left shoe on.
... I could go on and on.
Then, last night, about 1/2 an hour after we put Chloe down for the night, she started crying. That is pretty out of the ordinary for her, as usually she reads her books, talks to her stuffed animals and sings herself to sleep. I listened on the monitor to determine whether something was really wrong. She cried, "MONKEY, AWAY, PAHLEEEESE?...WHAAAAH PUHLEEESE." Martin and I arrived at her room at the same time. Turns out the stuffed monkey that was sitting in her shopping cart had not been properly put away. It needed to be in the toybox. "Night, night Monkey," and away it went. Chloe was happily tucked in again, and we walked out of her room. Martin says,
"She is so OCD. Just like you."
Yes, I have to admit, it's true. Fortunately for all of us, there is hope for Chloe. This is normal toddler behavior as they are learning to exert control over the things they can. Apparently, true OCD tendencies typically don't emerge until the teenage years.
Unfortunately for Martin, it's too late for me!
1. The Clifford book must go in the basket, facing forward, right side up. Any other way is wrong.
2. In order to get up for the day, the contents of her crib must be transported from her crib to the rocking chair in the following order: cat, pooh, grover, muffy, green blanket, purple blanket, then Chloe, carrying her Elmo, Cookie and cow. Do not touch the cow. Do not move anything without her first saying "(blank) to the chair" and handing it to you. Else, you must dry her tears and start from the beginning.
3. Right sock on, right shoe on; left sock on, left shoe on.
... I could go on and on.
Then, last night, about 1/2 an hour after we put Chloe down for the night, she started crying. That is pretty out of the ordinary for her, as usually she reads her books, talks to her stuffed animals and sings herself to sleep. I listened on the monitor to determine whether something was really wrong. She cried, "MONKEY, AWAY, PAHLEEEESE?...WHAAAAH PUHLEEESE." Martin and I arrived at her room at the same time. Turns out the stuffed monkey that was sitting in her shopping cart had not been properly put away. It needed to be in the toybox. "Night, night Monkey," and away it went. Chloe was happily tucked in again, and we walked out of her room. Martin says,
"She is so OCD. Just like you."
Yes, I have to admit, it's true. Fortunately for all of us, there is hope for Chloe. This is normal toddler behavior as they are learning to exert control over the things they can. Apparently, true OCD tendencies typically don't emerge until the teenage years.
Unfortunately for Martin, it's too late for me!
