Apparently there is such a thing as being too helpful when it comes to toddlers. 

Zanna was busily eating her “yummy yogurt” that I liberally spike with some green vegetable powder, when she got a bit too enthusiastic and accidentally splattered some on the table.

My husband, being the helpful sort, thoughtfully scooped up the splatter with a finger and licked it clean, whereupon Zanna set off a wail comparable to that of a triggered car alarm.  After whooping and wailing at deafening levels for a minute I finally got a coherent sentance from her:

“Dada take my yogurt!!!”  It was robbery most foul, in her view, and hangin’ was too good fer the varmint!

So I took the yogurt bowl into the kitchen, waited a few moments and brought it back to her with a bright smile “See!  More yogurt!”  She grumbled a little but started eating again.

Sometimes it’s like walking on eggshells with those two!

And now we come to the next part in the saga of Halle’s bag of balloon equipment.  When we last left our heroine, she had appropriated a small gift bag with which to cart around her (my) balloon pump and a handful of (now wretched looking) uninflated balloons.

The only problem was that she insisted on taking it to bed with her.  And every time she rolled over it, the crunchiness of the bag would wake her and she’d start shrieking and crying over the bag getting smooshed.  So I tried taking the bag from her as soon as she was asleep.

Then she would wake up in the middle of the night shrieking and screaming for its return.

Then came the infamous “T-Day”.  She woke up badly from a nap one afternoon and had a HUGE tantrum.  Threw herself on the floor, kicking and screaming bloody murder. 

By the end of it all she had ripped a couple of pieces off her beloved balloon bag and shredded them in her tiny, but potent, toddler fury.

When she had recovered from her tantrum and realized what she had done to her sweetie bag she was inconsolable.  She kept asking me for a new bag, but it had come with a gift from Korea from our neighbor who had vacationed there recently.  Heck of a commute to get a replacement.

So I told Halle we could try to fix it.  She looked so hopeful at this and held the tape dispenser for me as we carefully patched up the patient.  There were quite a few other holes and rips in the bag as well.  Still, she seemed happy to stuff her goodies into it and prance around with it dangling from her arm like a purse.

And then nighttime came and the bag smooshing and all the shrieks and wails that that entailed.

I was not a happy mama.  I was a very tired and cranky mama.

So I hied myself off to the Michael’s arts and crafts store and bought a few small white canvas tote bags for $1.29 each, a box of Crayola fabric pens for $3.49 and proceeded to decorate the bags with the pens and a few stencils I had.

Halle and Zanna each (I didn’t want any tugs of war) got one sunshine bag for daytime use, including traveling outside, and one moon and stars bag for nighttime use, including snuggling in bed.  (That way I didn’t have to worry about some filth-infested thing being dragged into their beds after an exciting day mucking around a farm.  (A separate adventure for a separate post.)

Halle was so taken with her new bag that she immediately dug her treasures out of the ratty paper gift bag and stuffed them into her new sunshine bag and proceeded to do a dance of celebration which involved much spinning around in circles and high-stepping pranciness.

Zanna also seemed content that the new bags were suitable habitats for rubber duckies and allowed me to place one of her traveling ducks into it for safekeeping.

Yes!  Score one for the mama!

Apparently there is such a thing as being too helpful when it comes to toddlers. 

Zanna was busily eating her “yummy yogurt” that I liberally spike with some green vegetable powder, when she got a bit too enthusiastic and accidentally splattered some on the table.

My husband, being the helpful sort, thoughtfully scooped up the splatter with a finger and licked it clean, whereupon Zanna set off a wail comparable to that of a triggered car alarm.  After whooping and wailing at deafening levels for a minute I finally got a coherent sentance from her:

“Dada take my yogurt!!!”  It was robbery most foul, in her view, and hangin’ was too good fer the varmint!

So I took the yogurt bowl into the kitchen, waited a few moments and brought it back to her with a bright smile “See!  More yogurt!”  She grumbled a little but started eating again.

Sometimes it’s like walking on eggshells with those two!

And now we come to the next part in the saga of Halle’s bag of balloon equipment.  When we last left our heroine, she had appropriated a small gift bag with which to cart around her (my) balloon pump and a handful of (now wretched looking) uninflated balloons.

The only problem was that she insisted on taking it to bed with her.  And every time she rolled over it, the crunchiness of the bag would wake her and she’d start shrieking and crying over the bag getting smooshed.  So I tried taking the bag from her as soon as she was asleep.

Then she would wake up in the middle of the night shrieking and screaming for its return.

Then came the infamous “T-Day”.  She woke up badly from a nap one afternoon and had a HUGE tantrum.  Threw herself on the floor, kicking and screaming bloody murder. 

By the end of it all she had ripped a couple of pieces off her beloved balloon bag and shredded them in her tiny, but potent, toddler fury.

When she had recovered from her tantrum and realized what she had done to her sweetie bag she was inconsolable.  She kept asking me for a new bag, but it had come with a gift from Korea from our neighbor who had vacationed there recently.  Heck of a commute to get a replacement.

So I told Halle we could try to fix it.  She looked so hopeful at this and held the tape dispenser for me as we carefully patched up the patient.  There were quite a few other holes and rips in the bag as well.  Still, she seemed happy to stuff her goodies into it and prance around with it dangling from her arm like a purse.

And then nighttime came and the bag smooshing and all the shrieks and wails that that entailed.

I was not a happy mama.  I was a very tired and cranky mama.

So I hied myself off to the Michael’s arts and crafts store and bought a few small white canvas tote bags for $1.29 each, a box of Crayola fabric pens for $3.49 and proceeded to decorate the bags with the pens and a few stencils I had.

Halle and Zanna each (I didn’t want any tugs of war) got one sunshine bag for daytime use, including traveling outside, and one moon and stars bag for nighttime use, including snuggling in bed.  (That way I didn’t have to worry about some filth-infested thing being dragged into their beds after an exciting day mucking around a farm.  (A separate adventure for a separate post.)

Halle was so taken with her new bag that she immediately dug her treasures out of the ratty paper gift bag and stuffed them into her new sunshine bag and proceeded to do a dance of celebration which involved much spinning around in circles and high-stepping pranciness.

Zanna also seemed content that the new bags were suitable habitats for rubber duckies and allowed me to place one of her traveling ducks into it for safekeeping.

Yes!  Score one for the mama!

Apparently there is such a thing as being too helpful when it comes to toddlers. 

Zanna was busily eating her “yummy yogurt” that I liberally spike with some green vegetable powder, when she got a bit too enthusiastic and accidentally splattered some on the table.

My husband, being the helpful sort, thoughtfully scooped up the splatter with a finger and licked it clean, whereupon Zanna set off a wail comparable to that of a triggered car alarm.  After whooping and wailing at deafening levels for a minute I finally got a coherent sentance from her:

“Dada take my yogurt!!!”  It was robbery most foul, in her view, and hangin’ was too good fer the varmint!

So I took the yogurt bowl into the kitchen, waited a few moments and brought it back to her with a bright smile “See!  More yogurt!”  She grumbled a little but started eating again.

Sometimes it’s like walking on eggshells with those two!

And now we come to the next part in the saga of Halle’s bag of balloon equipment.  When we last left our heroine, she had appropriated a small gift bag with which to cart around her (my) balloon pump and a handful of (now wretched looking) uninflated balloons.

The only problem was that she insisted on taking it to bed with her.  And every time she rolled over it, the crunchiness of the bag would wake her and she’d start shrieking and crying over the bag getting smooshed.  So I tried taking the bag from her as soon as she was asleep.

Then she would wake up in the middle of the night shrieking and screaming for its return.

Then came the infamous “T-Day”.  She woke up badly from a nap one afternoon and had a HUGE tantrum.  Threw herself on the floor, kicking and screaming bloody murder. 

By the end of it all she had ripped a couple of pieces off her beloved balloon bag and shredded them in her tiny, but potent, toddler fury.

When she had recovered from her tantrum and realized what she had done to her sweetie bag she was inconsolable.  She kept asking me for a new bag, but it had come with a gift from Korea from our neighbor who had vacationed there recently.  Heck of a commute to get a replacement.

So I told Halle we could try to fix it.  She looked so hopeful at this and held the tape dispenser for me as we carefully patched up the patient.  There were quite a few other holes and rips in the bag as well.  Still, she seemed happy to stuff her goodies into it and prance around with it dangling from her arm like a purse.

And then nighttime came and the bag smooshing and all the shrieks and wails that that entailed.

I was not a happy mama.  I was a very tired and cranky mama.

So I hied myself off to the Michael’s arts and crafts store and bought a few small white canvas tote bags for $1.29 each, a box of Crayola fabric pens for $3.49 and proceeded to decorate the bags with the pens and a few stencils I had.

Halle and Zanna each (I didn’t want any tugs of war) got one sunshine bag for daytime use, including traveling outside, and one moon and stars bag for nighttime use, including snuggling in bed.  (That way I didn’t have to worry about some filth-infested thing being dragged into their beds after an exciting day mucking around a farm.  (A separate adventure for a separate post.)

Halle was so taken with her new bag that she immediately dug her treasures out of the ratty paper gift bag and stuffed them into her new sunshine bag and proceeded to do a dance of celebration which involved much spinning around in circles and high-stepping pranciness.

Zanna also seemed content that the new bags were suitable habitats for rubber duckies and allowed me to place one of her traveling ducks into it for safekeeping.

Yes!  Score one for the mama!