The joy of being abandoned

Sometimes, I take TLM out to a playdate and she spends a whole hour wanting to sit on my lap; sometimes, her little friends visit us and she spends a whole hour trying to prevent them from getting their eager little hands on her precious toys. But when I take her to her friend's 3rd birthday party at one of those preschool-oriented indoor playgrounds, and I barely see her for 2 hours, that's what I call a good time.

Out of the 20 kids there, she knew three of them well (one of them being the birthday boy). So well, in fact, that as soon as they showed up she ran up to kiss them. Then she circled the kiddie town in her ride-on, stopping at my ankles every few laps to say hi and steal my snacks, came back in time to sing Happy Birthday and eat cake, and then I didn't see her again until we were all kicked out of the joint.

I don't know about you other parents, but that's the kind of playdate I like.

Is this why they call it the arsenic hour?

It seems, these days, that every time the boy gets home from work he is greeted by a naughty child and her tense mother (i.e. TLM and me). I worry that he must think the two of us spend all day getting grumpy with each other. That usually isn't the case though - the mornings are usually great fun; then TLM refuses to nap, so that neither of us get time out; then TLM gets over-tired and naughty; I get pissed off and wish I could still hold my liquor.

Take today, for instance. We had a great morning over at a friend's house, playing with her two boys and eating gourmet hot cross buns. Then TLM spent an hour of naptime calling for me and banging on her cot wall, while I lay on the couch with my eyes shut. The rest of the afternoon I was busy scraping poo off her undies (twice) and replacing the couch cover that she weed on. (While she didn't manage to foretell a need for the potty, she was sly enough to cover the puddle with a cushion, and go sit on the other couch).

Then the boy came home full of cheer and affection; the li'l girl lapped it up, but I had a headache.

Happy Easter (if that's appropriate. Maybe I ought to be offering commiserations for Friday and Happy Resurrection on Sunday).

Stuff I wish I knew when I was a new parent

The boy sent me this link to some utterly hilarious Do's and Don'ts of parenting. I laughed so hard, I had tears running down my face and didn't stop wheezing for about ten minutes. Go have a look - I dare you.