Friday, September 19, 2008

September Showers Bring Baby Meltdowns


I really don't know how many mornings like this I can survive.

It began innocently enough. My daughter woke me up with her usual very serious conversation with herself: "Ba, ba, ba...eehhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...da, da, da, va, va, ehhhhhhhhhhh." It was 6:15 and my head was splitting from my usual morning headache. I have begun a new routine where I dress Claire right after I feed her instead of right before we leave. I try to do it first thing when I have the most strength. As always, it was a fight to get her into her shirt and pants, and I was already spent after finally jamming those arms into a very cute purple peasant top.

I then had a decision to make. I was so exhausted last evening that I missed my usual nighttime shower. Should I just skip it and be skanky, or do I try to grab one this morning? I had enough time. My thoughts went back to about a month and a half ago, which was the last time I took a shower when Claire was awake. It was not a good situation. I figure she has developed since then and maybe things have changed.

Wrong.

From the minute I started the water until I finally got out (in about 3.5 minutes, because I was on turbo speed), my daughter screamed bloody murder. Not cried, not fussed. Screamed. Blood-curdling, Jamie-Lee-Curtis-in-Halloween screamed. I kept the curtain open and she hung over the edge of the tub while I assured her Mama was right here, everything was OK as I simultaneously tried to shampoo my head and shave my legs. By the time this fun-fest was finally over, my child was soaked. So now I had to DRESS HER AGAIN. And inevitably, two minutes before we were ready to go, I hear the grunting. So now there's a poop issue. So the pants come off again, and Miss Thang is crawling around her room while I am trying to wipe up a poopy butt.

Mommy needs a Valium.

2 comments:

LoveLladro said...

Oh heavens... that sounds horrible! I can't even imagine! I have to juggle Chase and the shower as well (most days) since Adam leaves so early... it's not really fun but he doesn't react quite like that! He spends the time in his crib and usually yells (in baby language which I am sure are curse words). All is forgiven when I pick him up though... like it never happened!

Anonymous said...

oh my goodness... that is not good. But when I came down to the last line you were trying to wipe off Claire's butt, I had a smile on my face. :-)

I agree with what Jessica wrote. As soon as you pick up Claire, she is fine again as it never happened! When I have Minhae by myself in the morning, I either take a shower at night or drop Minhae off at the center first then come back to the house to get myself readfy for work. It is so challenging. But that works for me so I can let the dogs out giving them a plenty of time to do their business, etc.