Handful

Tonight, Dan committed the ultimate "no no" in parenting. Stella was pointing to the paper towel roll in that deliberate way that means, "Give it to me NOW!!!" Dan gave it to her for a minute and then tried to take it away. I scolded him, as you're not supposed to give them something and then take it away as it sends mixed messages. So, he just let her do the inevitable with the paper towel roll, claiming he can go downstairs and get more for minimal cost. It was so funny. She does this with toilet paper, her diaper wipes, her hand wipes and anything that can be unravelled or pulled apart. She unravelled the entire thing, down to the cardboard roll. Then, that fell on the floor and she panic-screamed in order to get one of us to get it to her, immediately.

Today at Gymboree, the Magic Box had pails, rakes, shovels and little plastic things that they were supposed to put in the bucket and dump out. I thought that the rakes were a dicey choice. Stella grabbed one and before I knew it she whacked this little boy named Long Tin in the face. He started crying hysterically and then this other boy, Ethan, started sympathy crying with Long Tin. Poor Long Tin was never the same and cranky for the rest of the class. I don't think his mother minded too much as I wouldn't care if the situation was reversed, but Stella petted his arm as if to say sorry. It was a complete accident as she turned with the rake and didn't do it deliberately. She does plenty of things deliberately, but this was not one of them. But she was very hard to control today as she just wanted to climb all over the gym rather than participate in the group activities.

We came home and she ate a huge lunch, finally--chicken and macaroni with cheese melted on top along with blueberries and jar of sweet potatoes. She has become a picky eater, which is very frustrating for me. She had no problem grabbing a carrot muffin off the table today and jamming it in her mouth before I could react. Then, she freaked out when I took the muffin away. Even I don't eat a whole muffin. This was at Thursday coffee with her friends and mine. She was all over the place. These coffees are going to be very, very difficult when she starts walking faster. Her friend Holly walked all the way to Kate Spade from our tables to do some shopping. She and her mom have to disappear from our table every once in a while so that Holly can get her angst out. I am definitely not looking forward to that.

Dan came home a little bit early as tomorrow is a holiday. Stella had created her 4th poopy diaper of the day at around 5:56pm. We got her to the changing table and dove in (I always have to do the dirty work). She heard the American Idol theme song (show starts at 6pm) on the TV in the living room and began freaking out by frantically signaling with her arms that she's "all done" which really meant, "Hurry up and get me to American Idol!!!" She was arching her back toward the TV, which she can't see from our room where her changing table is. Dan and I laughed pretty hard about that. It was Dolly Parton night too.