Babysitting Duty was fine, but not easy. The plan was that she'd be tucked in as I arrived, and would sleep (perhaps stir and be soothed with pacifier) through the evening. Supergirl had other plans.
She was being put to bed when I arrived, and I kissed her on the cheek and said goodnight. Her parents departed. Two quiet hours passed, and I knitted and watched back episodes of TV shows on her parents' online Netflix setup. (And now I really do want that Apple TV gadget, so I can stream Netflix to the big TV and stop letting DVDs sit for three weeks before I get around to watching them.)
"Waaah!" Okay, no problem - Have Pacifier, Will Pacify! But when Supergirl rolled over and saw ME there, her eyes widened, and we were off and running. She would not sleep. I tried for a solid half hour to soothe her, but she was fighting to GET UP! She wasn't upset, she just wasn't going to go back to sleep. Okayfine.
We got up and went to the couch, where she was content to lean on me with her pacifier in her mouth and watch an episode of the second season of 30 Rock. (Never too young to start them on the right track, I say.) I watched her for sleepy blinky eyes, and when I saw enough evidence, we tried to go back to bed. And she went to sleep. Yay! I returned to the living room and settled down with my knitting and 30 Rock.
At this point my son texted me to ask how it was going, and I reported that she'd been awake but just went back to sleep. Yay! I no sooner hit send on that text, when..."Waaah!"
Repeat process of soothing to sleep. Yeah, right. Give up again. Another ep of 30 Rock, and this time she played with my cellphone - and somehow managed to dial her Daddy.
I have no idea how she did this, seriously - I don't have any numbers set up on speed dial, and redial is not a one key feature on this phone, and I kept taking it from her and hitting "End" to clear any keys she did hit, but somehow she hit the right combo of keys to call him, and suddenly I heard his voice coming out of the phone - he thought I'd called him. He laughed but was not surprised - she appears to have the power to call family members off anyone's phone. When she plays with her aunt's Blackberry she always calls another aunt.
So we talked, and he tried to tell her to go to sleep. She looked at the phone with the same disgusted look she'll give him when she's 15, and I had to laugh. I am also going to keep her in mind when I want to find hidden features on my next phone. I may just hand it to her and let her program it.
When she reached the point where she would take her pacifier out of her mouth to yawn a jaw-breaking yawn and then replace the pacifier, I told her bedtime was no longer an option. We went back to bed.
She started alternately fighting and crying, and singing to herself - she rolled over on her side and I heard her humming a tuneless little tune, with non-words thrown in. It was absolutely precious, and there was absolutely no way I was going to try to record it for posterity when all I wanted to do was get her stubborn little ass to go to sleep. It was now nearly 11. She had a grip on my hand and wasn't going to let me leave her, so I stayed and watched her. Her eyes would shut...oh yes! And then pop open with great effort. She was fighting sleep with all her might. Finally, after much eye-rubbing and snits of crying, I said, in my dog training voice, not my soothing sweet grandma voice, "Okay girlfriend, give it up. You're exhausted. Shut up and go to sleep." More sniffing and sadness, but only a minute or two, and then blissful silence. It was 11:30.
Her parents got home at 1. I got home around 1:30, and then had to of course walk the dogs and give the dogs bedtime snacks and unwind a bit myself, so I went to sleep around 2:30. The dogs woke me at 8, which beat the hell out of the usual 6, but wasn't exactly the beauty rest I needed.
She is a joy and a riot, but boy, this babysitting will be SO much easier when she can talk! It's pretty obvious that she can understand waaaay more than she can say, and wants to do much more than she can do, and the frustration of it all is just making her crazy. But cute? Oh damn, she's just too cute.
Well done with the dog training voice. It can be amazing how well that works. When mine were older than Supergirl, old enough in fact to walk around the shops with me, we had a deal -- I would give them a reasonable amount of time to perve on the toyshop window display. When I gave the little two note whistle, and firmly announced "Heel, Pups!" it meant time to go and no complaints will be considered. Looking back now as a Little Old Lady myself, I get even more fun out of the memory of the faces of those L.O.L's of the past. But it worked, and was something of a family joke/signal.
ReplyDeleteBy the time I had children, I had quite a few years of dog training under my belt, and had decided that the principles were not so very different. They survived and thrived.
Gae, in Callala Bay
"So we talked, and he tried to tell her to go to sleep. She looked at the phone with the same disgusted look she'll give him when she's 15, and I had to laugh. I am also going to keep her in mind when I want to find hidden features on my next phone. I may just hand it to her and let her program it."
ReplyDeleteHahahahahaha! I love you Catherine!
Lella
I've always said that training kids is like training dogs, but some people don't approve of that comparison. :-)
ReplyDeleteToo funny. I do think you're right in that babies. like dogs, can understand much more than they can express and get very frustrated.
ReplyDeleteKimmen
Aww! Did you know you can teach babies to sign? I think it's Makaton, but anyway, it works :) I'm getting baby cuddles with my friend's baby tomorrow. He's 4 months. I was supposed to babysit but was sick the other day, so had to bow out. I'm glad, really, because apparently he's teething. Oops! I think baby girl is amazing - she has special powers in the phone department, doesn't she?!?
ReplyDeleteTraining small children is exactly like training dogs - keep it simple, keep it short and sweet, be as consistent as humanly possible. Organise the environment to make it easier for them to be 'good', then praise for being good.
ReplyDeleteAnd that firm, clear dog training voice told Supergirl that you meant business. Soothing sweet grandmas MIGHT still have some potential to be conned.......
My eldest GD is nearly 16, and her little cousin (4 in March) is the youngest of the Gang of Four, and I have never had to go beyond the dog training voice with any of them. Senior GS (then 3) told me he was not sleepy and was not going to bed until "14 o'clock", I pointed out that his head kept falling prey to the magnetic attraction of the arm of the couch - that was, apparently, because 'his neck hurt'. Bush lawyers, every last one of 'em.
Gae, in Callala Bay