the 4’oclock heebie-jeebies

that is what i call A__’s daily 4pm freak out.  not really a freak out, but she loses the ability to concentrate on anything or do anything on her own, or play with me for anything beyond 2 seconds at a time.  there’s usually also some whining and crying.

so, at 4pm, we go outside for a walk, or to the park, or anything, just to get out of the house.

today, just before we left, she’d found several one dollar bills that i’d knocked off the table.  she wouldn’t let me have them, so we left the house with money clutched in her right hand.

by the time we go to the bottom of the stairs, she’d also claimed my keys, which she clutched in her left hand.

between the keys, the crumpled ones, the very ugly coveralls she wore (look below for the print), and the toddler bed-head/oatmeal coating she was sporting as a hair-do, she looked entirely too much like me on my guilty way to dunkies for some caffeine.

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david vs. goliath OR being bested by a 29inch giant

around 5pm the other day, i lay sprawled on the kitchen floor, exhausted from my daily dose of squats and lunges, and wondering if it was too late for a cup of coffee. in all likelihood, it would keep me up half the night, but in my current state i wasn’t sure i’d make it through dinner, bath and bedtime routine.

A__ was sitting near me, happily chatting to herself. eventually, i realized she’d opened up her diaper bag, in which i’d stashed a banana for a snack. it had gotten mushy enough that she actually managed to get some of the peel off. by the time i realized all this, she and the floor and the bag were covered in banana goo, and i was still flat on my back dreaming of java. so, i let her keep playing until the banana was no more than goo everywhere and the peel was ripped into tiny pieces. why piss her off to clean up goo when i could wait until she was done to clean it up?

eventually, i got up and cleaned up the mess. of course, here’s what i discovered just as i was finishing my clean up:

that’s a poopie diaper sitting behind her. she’d opened up the bathroom cupboard and was mid-way through emptying the bin. here’s where i should mention that A__ wears cloth diapers, so these are not neat little spanikopita-like triangles of poopie-filled plastic, these are messy pieces of cloth that have been dunked in the toilet and are stewing in their own stink until i put them in the laundry.

off i go to clean up A__, and then the mess on the bathroom floor. at which point i turned around to discover this:

i deposited the towels in the very high cupboard full of cleaning supplies. and, as i watched A__ scoot off to the spice cabinet to dump little bottles all over the floor, i decided it wasn’t too late for coffee after all.

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