Lauren has been doing a concerted job of acting out lately. It seems to center around making gargantuan messes with some sticky substance on her window. Three times with Chapstick, twice with toothpaste. She's also started a nervous habit of picking at her lip until it bleeds...which ought to clarify the accessability, anyway, of Chapstick in our house. It's pretty easy to remember to put Chapstick on one's own lips. They're chapped. They hurt. But it's harder to remember to do it for someone else. Having a few tubes lying around jogs my memory. But now they've become weapons with which to inflict Lauren's unique brand of sibling jealousy in her adjustment from only child to oldest child.
It hasn't helped that we've had company particularly interested in seeing Lindsay lately. Most of my husband's family was in town last week - his mom, grandfather, and uncle all were here for their annual visit. Lauren's acting out extends to being particularly sassy to other adults giving instruction. While her initial reaction to me might be to say "No, I am not going to do x", she usually will back off to "I don't want to do x" but she will do it anyway. I don't argue with that. There's plenty of stuff I don't want to do, and I too have to do it anyway. She's certainly allowed her opinion, even if it is annoying.
I am trying to get beyond my sleep deprivation to spend some chunks of "Lauren Time" to ease her adjustment. It seems to be working. I mean, not only was this morning window art-free, but she actually slept until 9:15. Today, when we had a visitor - I had a friend stop by to see the baby, and she started being sort of mouthy and petulent, when I suggested they play a game together, she became focused on her task and was remarkably well-behaved the rest of his stay.
Well, no one said this Mom stuff was going to be easy, right? Off to McDonalds as promised so we can finish our Cars collection...
Oh, and you Jersey moms and dads out there - does Loew's do Mommy Cinema here in the 'burbs? I'd really like to take Lauren to see Cars...
3 comments:
I have no idea what Mommy Cinema is but if you need a place to park Lindsay for a while while you and Lauren take in Cars, it's playing at the mall here... :)
Karen's after her baby fix. :) Our kids would be sad if they don't get some playtime soon considering we teased them when Chris came over to lend me your stroller.
In a couple of NYC theaters, you can bring your infant a designated showtime (at one of them it was noon on Tuesdays). They keep the lights up a bit so you can see to feed the baby. I read somewhere that Loews does this for the first show, which makes sense, because otherwise who goes to an 11 AM movie?
Y'know if it weren't for the Lauren factor, I would just show up and see if they told me no...it would really thwart the whole purpose though if I took Lauren and then we couldn't see this movie for which she's already collected all the Happy Meal character toys.
Baby fix me, baby! You can hold some popcorn at the movie and I'll hold your baby at home...
We are on Day 3 of the Great Playroom Fix-Up and the kids (both of them) are actually putting things away. You should bring Lauren over so she can say, in later years, that she actually witnessed the miracle. :)
ps - keep the stroller if you'll use it. nobody around here fits into it anymore.
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