Ways in which I am a bad mother: #n to n+m

[ailbhe]

Today I put Linnea to sleep in her buggy in front of the television.

Put the phone down! It's not that bad! Don't dial just yet (but the number is 0808 800 5000). She was very, very tired. And running around like a mad thing. She ran all over the house, and all over the garden, lying down and closing her eyes for up to three seconds at a time, before getting up to run around some more. She just didn't want to be awake and still - she wanted to be asleep. So I sat her in front of the TV until "still" was an option, then strapped her safely into the buggy so that she could fall asleep, er, safely.

She's going to meet a lot of strangers in quick succession after her Daddy goes away, this holiday. I hope it's ok. It could be up to 8 adults and four children, all told. I shall just have to hang on to my resolve not to let any of them hold her until she is willing to be held, unlike last time we brought her to Ireland, when I felt under considerable pressure to show her to be a "sociable" baby. She is sociable, mind you. Much more so than I am.

Yesterday she spoke to my mother on the phone. Mum said "Hiya!" and Linnea said "Hiya!" back. All melt.

She brushes her teeth morning and night; we say "Come and brush your teeth," and she leads the way to the bathroom, carries her step to the sink, climbs up on it, and demands a toothbrush. A parent has to be quick on the draw to get her teeth brushed before the toothbrush is wrenched from weak parental grasp by determined baby fingers.

Running naked around the garden cures mild nappy rash and is very cute cute cute cute cute BOOM.