Working on Toddler Time

It ain't 9-5 that's for sure.

Ever noticed that when some people say 'just a minute' they actually mean more like 10 or 20 minutes? My Mum used to tell me that when she said 'just a minute' that it meant a 'nurses minute' which is actually closer to half an hour. So, growing up, I got used to just doing something else till Mum could come help / listen / watch whatever it was I wanted her to do.

These days I'm on 'toddler time' which essentially breaks down like this:

• When I want to do something / go somewhere, I need to wait till Little P is good and ready to go, otherwise I wind up having to not only carry her, but her little friends, blanket, book etc., just to get her out the door and on our way
• When Little P wants to do something / go somewhere, I can't move quick enough

It's not all bad though - most of the time, when she wants to do something, it's usually something I want to do as well (hey, who doesn't like coloring in the Princesses with only a red crayon?)

But there are days when it's really down to a battle of wills. I need to get going, and she needs to do everything BUT accommodate Mommy. These are the days when she will insist on changing four times, on having to brush her teeth multiple times, when she just has to have more yogurt (even though I know damn well she's not hungry) and when she will go down the stairs like molasses - really, really, slowly. 

It's usually on these days when I am inevitably running behind schedule, and I need Little P to pick up the pace, double time. And it's usually on these days when she's likely to go into major melt down mode because I'm not paying attention to whatever it is that she's doing with her doll / toy / book right at that very moment. And it's on these days when I just need to stop, take a deep breath and realize that, for a while, I am going to be working on her schedule, not the other way around. And that I really should not only just accept that simple fact, but that I should embrace it, cherish it, enjoy it.

Because, before too long, Mommy is not going to be the one she wants to be around all the time. There will be friends who are going to be way more interesting than me, and it will be I who will be asking her to stop and spend some time with me.

And since the world won't stop spinning if I'm fifteen minutes late to work, I think I might just take that extra moment to read just one more story, have tea with Violet and Rapunzel and let my baby girl be my baby girl… for just a moment longer.

Little P having tea with some of her closest friends.

Till next time, take the time to smell the roses (and maybe enjoy some tea).

K

Mommy-ism #133: trying to rush a two year old to do anything is like walking through 

molasses - it's next to impossible, it's extremely tiring and at the end of it you somehow wind up 

sticky.