Where I'm Supposed to Be

I've had a couple rough days on the job the last week and a half, but none so rough I doubt my decision to stay home with Bailey. My family will probably laugh at the fact that Bailey wants to be little miss independent these days because I'm told I was a very stubborn child and wanted to do everything on my own. She wanted to come up the stairs to our apartment the other day without holding a hand, which I let her do, but came up right behind her just in case ... all the while with her saying "stay back momma."

Apparently I didn't stay far enough back because you would've thought the world was coming to an end when we got to the top and she turned to see me standing on the step behind her.

WOW! BIGGEST TANTRUM E.V.E.R!

It threw me off to say the least, and not in a good way. How did I deal with it? Not sure I should admit this but here goes ... I picked her flailing body up off the floor outside our apartment, brought her in, laid her on the carpet, told her she needed to straighten up, lightly smacked her diaper padded bum and walked away. No part of me wanted to reward that kind of behavior and I didn't know how else to get her to stop, so bringing her into the apartment and letting her cry it out was the only thing that seemed reasonable at the time. Well, let's just say none of the above reactions phased her in the LEAST, and she continued with the fit. So after a few minutes of blood-curdling screaming on her part, I picked her up, sat her on the couch and told her she could sit there until she was finished crying. It worked. She was fine after that and we didn't hit any snags like that the rest of the day.

Believe it or not, I actually had a hard time disciplining her when I looked at her. The day before that, she had fallen on concrete while walking--WALKING, not even running--and busted her lip pretty bad. So, since that kind of behavior is very much against the norm for her, I wondered (and still wonder) if she had a headache or her lip was hurting or something and she just couldn't express it and that's how it came out. Nonetheless, I didn't want to encourage it in the slightest. These are the joys of parenting :)

Okay, on to fun stuff.

She continues to amaze me at how much she knows, even when she uses it against me. It's true that children are sponges at this age. She picks up on everything from "horse crap" (thanks Papaw) to "syllables." She said the word alligator the other day, as in "see ya later alligator" and I said "How can she say so many syllables?" to which she repeated "syllables." She's at the age where she'll repeat anything, so I took advantage of that fact and video taped her saying her alphabet and counting to 10 ... my favorite part is neither of these (although the letters "l" and "w" are pretty darn cute); my favorite part is the very beginning of the video. Listen closely to her say "I do." Mary asked me a few weeks ago what my favorite Bailey saying is, and that's definitely it. Somehow, she has a very southern twang when she says that, but not with anything else that I've noticed so far. Mostly I spend my days laughing at her and with her and couldn't be happier!

And wish me luck, today is the first day we're going without the doe-doe (what she says for pacifier--thanks to John and Hillary :)) I have yet to tackle the potty full force. That will be for the week after next since I'll be at my parents' most of next week visiting with Hil and John before their reception. I am currently naive enough to believe it won't take long once I start being more consistent. Please don't burst my bubble :)