ailbhe: (daddy)
[personal profile] ailbhe
I got everything planned for the early part of the day done.

Then I came home and vegetated. We had dinner, I washed the dishes, tidied up a bit. The groceries were delivered while we were out so I cleaned the fridge in a very perfunctory way (why do we always have gallons of water at the bottom of the fridge, under the veg drawers?) and put the groceries away.

Over dinner we played mirroring - mainly tilting our heads to one side, but some headscratching and armfolding - and saying "I love you." We also talked about Monday. On Monday Daddy comes back, and L and O arrive. Daddy is in a plane - where's the plane? "It's white," says Linnea, but she obviously doesn't know where it is. Baby Doll sat naked on the table for most of the meal, until Linnea said "Baby Doll like a nappy." "I'll get one soon," I said. "Oops," said 'Nea, knocking the doll over so her toes were in the air and her bottom clearly visible. "Baby Doll made a poo!"

I fetched the nappy.

After eating, Linnea and I played a bit, and then I gave her her bath. During her bath I read some of my library book, The Swish of the Curtain, which I read as a child and enjoyed greatly. It seems a bit stilted now. And after that was ended by a small flood and a big giggle as the sopping facecloth, three ducks, a teapot and a toddler all jumped out of the bath together, Linnea watched some Teletubbies on DVD.

At 8:45 I took her onto my knee for milk. then we read Where are Maisy's friends? four or five times, and A Piece of Cake (A book about the Large family, who are elephants) once, and then I said it was bedtime. She negotiated one more reading of Maisy and then we went upstairs.

She didn't want to go to bed but she didn't struggle, she just complained. I put her to bed with lots of quiet praise and a kiss and a tuck in, said "Goodnight," and then said the key phrase "Nighttime - time for bed."

She didn't try to get out once. She talked about getting out, and there was a moment when I almost broke down when she asked where Daddy was, but I persisted, said nothing other than "No, nighttime, time for bed," and she was fast asleep in less than 11 minutes. I noted the time before going upstairs, and again when I came down, having detoured slightly to fetch the baby monitor. We've done this four nights now; just over 30 minutes, 25 minutes, 14 minutes, and now 11 minutes. I'm astonished.

Now I need to feed the cats, take in the dry laundry from the line, do a quick tidy-up, and have a cup of tea and Something Nice. Rob's plane is supposed to land in an hour.

The day went very well indeed. The evening could not have been more pleasant or smoother. I feel bereft. Rob better call as soon as he lands.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-05-12 08:36 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tiggsybabes.livejournal.com
How fabulous about going to bed :) My key phrase is "night, night, see you in the morning" With Kate, morning is anything after midnight though :/

(no subject)

Date: 2006-05-12 09:18 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] helenprev.livejournal.com
A Piece of Cake is one of my favourite picture books in the whole wide world.

And hooray for the 11 minutes! That is fantastic.

Hope Rob called. *hugs*

(no subject)

Date: 2006-05-13 06:06 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] oldbloke.livejournal.com
Sounds like the bedtime thing is cracked, then. You'll be amazed how much it affects your life: suddenly you have FREE TIME in the evening. It removes a whole area of stress production that you may not even have noticed half the time.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-05-13 06:14 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] oldbloke.livejournal.com
...except of course there'll be something to fill that time coming along shortly. Still, if Linnea goes to bed reasonably, it'll make dealing with #2 a bit easier.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-05-13 12:15 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] k425.livejournal.com
Ah, ignore my other post, this answers my question!

(no subject)

Date: 2006-05-13 04:27 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] flybabydizzy.livejournal.com
why do we always have gallons of water at the bottom of the fridge, under the veg drawers?

there will be a little drain hole at the back of the fridge, somewhere just below the cooling panel, but above the veg drawer. It is likely that something has got stuck in there, causing the water to run back into the fridge, rather than into the little dish at the back of the fridge, where it can normally evaporate with the warmth of the heat exchanger. The prime suspects are, in my experience; a bit of plastic, a runner bean or a bit of cheese.

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