J loves our firstborn with all his heart. It is not unusual for him to spend an entire Saturday playing with her, then stare forlornly at the baby monitor after he has put her to bed and sigh, “I miss my baby.”
That being said, he is much better at saying “no” than I will ever be. He is constantly reminding me that it is better to enforce good habits now than to have to break bad habits long after they have formed.
Not surprisingly, Claire does not like this aspect of her father. 😛
Take tonight, for example. After J put his foot down for what seemed like the millionth time today, and she threw her millionth tantrum as a response, I gathered her sobbing little body into my arms and took her away in order to ready her for bedtime.
And as we sat there, just mother and daughter for the first time in hours today, she launched into a speech…
“BABA blah blah blah gibberish babytalk blah blah! More gibberish BABA blah blah blah! BABA gibberish gibberish gibberish!“
This went on for a few more minutes, with the word “baba” (the Chinese word for “daddy”) inserted every few seconds. I couldn’t help but start cracking up as I responded with the occasional “Oh really?”s and “You don’t say!”s — because it really seemed like she was telling me about all the bad things her baba had done today to make her upset!
In other words…TATTLETALE!
When J appeared as we neared the end of her bedtime routine, she shot him daggers from her eyes and even refused to let him give her her nighttime bottle.
Stubborn, grudge-holding tattletale!
My parents have been declaring Claire a little genius from day one (and I always shook them off because…well, they’re her grandparents), but lately I have been hearing more and more comments from friends, family members, and even strangers who have limited interactions with her that she is one smart baby.
And the downside to having an astute child? You are bound to run into problems with them later on, as they start to talk back, sneak things by you, and even eventually outwit you!
We’re in for one heck of a ride.
