Paint and Play

Bubs and I went to Paint and Play this morning. Poor thing had a bad night's sleep, so I was grumpy and she was miserable and grumpy.

I had been thinking that it was good for me to get out and about so that Bubs could interact with other children and I could interact with other adults.

Today it just didn't work. I met my friend, Michelle, and her beautiful little girl, who is about 6 months older than Bubs. It drove me crazy that her baby was picking up foam numbers from the giant puzzle and naming them! I felt so inadequate with my little darling who doesn't even speak yet. All that playing classical music, reading stories and restricting TV appears to have done nothing, because little Bronte spends hours in a playpen watching Nic Junior and is streets ahead of Bubs developmentally.

And it drives me crazy that that drives me crazy. I thought I was doing so well being non-competitive and comparitive with Bubs! I think it's easier to be happy with a non-intellectual toddler when the toddler is happy and content. When she's demanding and grizzly, I feel as though she should show a little intellect to compensate.

But I think I'm also feeling angry with her because I feel insecure about her safety - in the past few days she's been incredibly defiant about holding my hand in public, and has shown a complete disregard for traffic and other dangers. And the healthy eating thing has come to a complete halt - today she emptied her fruit cup out onto the ground so she could pick out the sultanas and ignore the rest.