Sitting here waiting for Bob to get here. I'm going to try to have a better attitude today than the rotten beast of an attitude I had yesterday. If I could take him somewhere or entertain him better, maybe he wouldn't be such a stinker. It's freezing outside and I can't afford to just hop in the car and ride around town, so I guess we're stuck here.

***time elapse***

Okay, he just got dropped off and I'm already having to try and stifle my irritation. On the days his mom drops him off, we have a little routine that we HAVE TO follow in order to avoid a total meltdown as she walks out the door. I must have the t.v. on a kids channel BEFORE he gets here, with some kind of snack and a sippy cup of juice sitting on the table beside the couch. Mommy brings him in, plops him on the couch, hands him his drink and snack (by this time, his eyes have met Thomas the Tank Engine on t.v. and he is completely mesmerized), and then she can successfully sneak out. MOST mornings, Bob doesn't notice that mom left and he'll sit and eat his snack in peace.

This morning, mommy brings him in with a MELTY POPSICLE in his hand and sits him down on the couch and says that she HAD to give him the popcicle because that's the only way he would stop crying after she turned off the Wiggles to put his coat on and get him loaded in the car.

Yes, you HAD to give him the popcicle. He physically twisted your arm and led you to the freezer as you cried uncle and reached for the color/flavor of his choice.

To me, this is a little window into why Bob is the way he is. He gets what he wants ALL the time. Mom will do ANYTHING to prevent him from whining and crying. She has admitted that he cannot ride in a vehicle without a DVD player because to him, car rides = Barney. When she drives her employer's vehicle, (which is DVD-less) He works himself into a frenzy and screams the entire car ride.....that is, unless she brings his little handheld TV thing. He does fuss a little in my DVD-free car sometimes, but for the most part he is fine. I have seen this scenario many times: Bob is content and behaving well enough, even though things may not be going his way......then Mom walks in the room and he has a tantrum. I think he knows how to play mom.

I guess I'm big mean babysitter lady, 'cause as soon as mom left, I attempted to distract Bob by taking his shoes off and handing him a handful of wheat crackers as I pried the melty treat from his cold and sticky little hand. He fussed for about 1 minute and then got interested in the crackers and he was fine after that.

I'm no neat freak, and my furniture is certainly not worth anything, but I think it is rude to drop your 21 month old child off at someone's house at 6:30 am with a melty sticky popsicle in his hand, and set him down on a couch in a room full of carpet, blankets, and pillows. I guess she didn't have a choice, though.
Bob MADE her do it.

Oops. So much for trying to have a better attitude. I'm bad. :)

**ETA** (Yes, DH, I SWEAR that ETA means "edited to add" in the blogging world....even though it means "estimated time of arrival" in the real world)

The weather got all nasty here, so Bob's momma got sent home from work and came and got him at 2:00. Bob and I had been sleeping since about 12:45, and we had a pretty good morning. No complaints. I didn't know that she was coming, so we were both sleeping when she knocked on the door. I wondered if she noticed that I had a small blanket folded in half between Bob and my bed sheet when she got him out of the bed while I grabbed his shoes. I hope she didn't think anything of it. I'm a weirdo and I just don't like dirtying up my clean sheets w/ someone else's toddler germs. Yes, I'm a freak, I know.

Labels: babysitting