Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Theory & Practice

We got to spend the evening with Funk. The girl was a blast. We had a living room picnic and feasted on grapes, played with baby dolls, played upstairs in Khubz's room, changed diapers and got into Pjammies, wiped noses with ease and effortlessly laid down for the night before 8:30.


Now here's a more detailed reflection on the evening.

I have no idea how women with more than one child do anything. And the two children I had with me were good children. They did not bite, scratch, claw or flee. They were ideal children. And I still have no idea how parents with two or more children do anything.

You are astonishing.

I made a few tactical errors. Luckily, the girl children were both forgiving (Funk was more forgiving than Khubz, truth be told). If you have one child and are thinking about borrowing another, I encourage you to avoid these key missteps:

  • Do not assume that your child will accept the other child sitting in her booster seat.
  • Do not assume that your child will peacefully eat while sitting in your lap even though she always, always wants to be in your lap rather than in her own seat
  • Do not assume there is no difference between how milk tastes in a green cup versus a pink cup
  • Do not assume you can put your child down to sleep in her crib and then walk out of the room while holding the other child.
  • Do not assume your child will not contact the dark overlord to punnish you for trying to put her down while still holding another child.
  • Do not assume that the borrowed child will be glad to hear the same books or songs you saw at her house.
  • Do not disregard when the borrowed child says, "no. no. no. Mah Mommy does. Mah Mommy." Stop singing that personal penguin song immediately. Back away from the Itsy Bitsy Spider. Do not make any move towards the Hungry, Hungry Catapillar.

In truth we had a blast! There was much sharing of toys and playing together and discussions about "Mah Baby" or "Mah Khubz" or "Mah Noise." Khubz replied with her newfound pronunciation of "funkie" Funk was totally wonderful about eating her cottage cheese, bread, ground beef, bananas, grapes and milk. We watched one video and mostly played & had a great time together.

My most important tip is: do not assume you should not have the party.

It really was a blast.

8 comments:

frog ponds rock... said...

I am giggling away here.. Do not assume anything ... great post...

Glad that you had a great time..

cheers Kim :)

Veronica Foale said...

To assume is to ivite trouble.

Especially when you are talking about a 17mth old Toddler.

cripchick said...

good advice : )

Two Shews said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

So, this morning? When Funk found out we had a snow day? She kept saying over and over, "Go play Khubz! Khubz house! I play with Khubz! Khubz mah freeeeeeen!"

Super cute. Thanks again a meeeellion times. You are a lifesaver.

(Last deleted post was me forgetting that I needed to put in the new blog. Duh.)

Daisy said...

I only had one child myself, then actually tried to go into DAY CARE WORK (insert scream here) and deal with 20 kids at a time. I didn't last long.

I especially loved how you'd ask them to line up, and they'd just SCATTER in 20 directions. AIYEE!!

Still, I gotta say, driving the day care van really improved my driving. I learned laser-beam concentrate, in the midst of the din.

Anonymous said...

the children will guide you...just go with your instincts and it seems to turn out okay.

Hugs,
Sabine

belledame222 said...

I have three year old cousins, twin boys. I follow the tales of their exploits & their parents with awe and amusement.