Rush (don't get too excited Erik, it's not what you think)

I have a problem and I'm sure it's not unlike many parents. As much as I enjoy the stage Maggie is in, I can't help but be anxious for the next stage to begin only to wonder what I was in such a hurry for.

It started with wanting her to be in a "big girl carseat". I justified in my mind how much easier it would be walking into daycare just carrying her and not the big heavy infant seat. How it would be nice to actually hold her rather than a plastic handle that was the cause of my calloused hand. How since she was a big girl (I mentioned she's averaged 95%ile most of her young life?) she should be in a big girl seat.

So we moved her into the carseat at the beginning of winter. We didn't think about the fact that in her infant carseat we could put her warm little body in the warm little seat, put blankets around her and plop the seat in the carrier. We didn't think about the fact that since she couldn't stand on her own, walking into daycare with her in one hand, bottles in the other and having to put the lovely blue booties on over my shoes all at the same time was next to impossible. And God forbid I put her down on the floor for a second while I do this...mental breakdown! And we also didn't think about the size of the backseat of my car in comparison to the size of the carseat and the unbelievable blind spot that size issue creates.

Maybe we rushed that one a little...

Yesterday we put Maggie in the "big girl bathtub". I recently read that we have been doing her baths all wrong. The purpose of the small infant/toddler tub is to avoid having to crouch down over the tub, the tub can be placed on a table instead and your back loves you for it. I really don't understand this concept because Maggie is not unlike every other kid in water...she splashes...constantly. And the more she realizes that hitting the water creates a splash the more she splashes! So wouldn't that create a mess on the table, floor, etc? Anyway, I'm sure other parents do this with great success it just wasn't for us.

So, of course after I read what "they" say to do I had to get rid of the little bathtub and put her in the big girl bath. I didn't really consider what all of this new found freedom would cause...her toys are everywhere now and she gets MAD when she can't reach them so she tries to crawl to them (yes, Maggie is crawling*...the stubborn little girl who will not crawl on the floor crawls in the bath). As you can imagine, this is not very safe. And now that she can pull herself up, she's pulling herself up on the side of the tub, the soap dish, the faucet, anything she can get her hands on. I have to admit, her little naked butt sticking out of the water is pretty damn cute but, again, not very safe. And for some reason now she hates getting her hair washed. She used to be a champion bather...she played and played while I did my thing never bothering her at all. Now she just seems aware of everything that is going on and she does not like it!

After 10 minutes of this I am soaking wet and exhausted and Maggie is not too happy because the water is now cold, she is cold, I am cold...and then we get to start the fun process of getting her ready for bed. See February 26th post for a a little background on how much she loves her changing table these days. Let's just say there is a lot of crying and screaming "ma-ma" during this process.

So what's next? Of course I will not change...I'm already rushing the walking, I'm sure I will rush getting rid of the changing table to change her on the floor or something like that. Stay tuned...

* One more note about the crawling...little miss "too cool to crawl"...guess what I caught her doing at daycare today? Crawling with a smile on her face!