Whereupon Phoenix Posts Again About that Blanket
I have posted a number of times about bibi. This is another such post.Last night, I snuck bibi into the washer again. It needed a good soak. The thing wasn't filthy, but it wasn't exactly clean either. And, how could it be? Bunny loves her bibi. She wipes snot on it. She sucks on it. She drags it behind her. She stuffs it in corners and all kinds of containers of every shape and size. She sleeps with it, plays with it, and talks to it.
I am convinced that it talks back to her.
Anyway, I have tried to refuse to let her take it everywhere. If we are going somewhere overnight or on an extended car trip, I let her take it. If she's sick, I usually let her take it with her. But, I don't let her take it into stores and only rarely does she get to take it to the babysitter's house.
I purposely left it behind this morning, in fact. You see, I am still trying to potty train the little obstinate child and she isn't exactly embracing the concepts. So, after she threw a fit at 6:00 a.m. over the potty, I decided to strike a deal with her.
We got to the sitter's this morning and no sooner had I put the car in park than she had begun asking about bibi. I take her inside and she knows I don't have bibi in my hands. She begins crying (they have a very close relationship, she and bibi). Crying becomes wailing. Wailing is joined by additional drama of throwing oneself on floor and calling out for bibi. And of course, she gives me the look.
You know the look. The one that she'll give me again when she's a teenager if she perceives a slight against her boyfriend. That youareevilIhateyou! look. That's the look I got for not immediately driving home to retrieve bibi. So, I explained that if she will sit on the potty and go potty, I'll let her bring bibi. But if not? No bibi.
Harsh? Maybe. But the candy rewards aren't working as I had hoped. And, unfortunately for Bunny, blackmail is totally in my repertoire.
Look, she's a bright kid. I am convinced that if she can just get past the mental block it will be cake. But the mental block is currently the equivalent of a three-feet deep concrete wall. So, I'm hoping that dangling bibi before her will help her climb over the wall.
It is time.
Yes, I've heard it before and I'll hear it again, I'm sure: I am a bad bad mommy.
