So adding a third child did send child number two into a tailspin, from which she has not yet emerged. BUT it has also had some other interesting side effects. Natalie has always played games with her Daddy's emotions. She only wanted Mommy when she was a baby, and then as she got older she bonded to Daddy much more but she never wanted to let him know that. She would be affectionate only on her terms, and if he asked for a hug or kiss she would never give one (of course, if he asked her NOT to hug or kiss him, then she would). She always chose to stay with Mom if we were doing separate things.
Well, NOW, with me taking care of the dreaded "little bother" she is all about Daddy. Jim is loving it. If he asks who wants to ride with him to Starbucks or Home Depot, she jumps right up (would NEVER have happened before). She wants Daddy to do all kinds of things with her. The best part is in restaurants. Jim always had it easy with bathroom duty in restaurants. He took Liam and I took Natalie. But Liam hardly ever had to go, and if he did it was in/out la-dee-dah. Natalie...not so much. Now if she has to go she says "NO, I don't want to go with Mommy, I want to go with Daddy!" and for some reason she is even worse about needing to go 2-3 times per dinner. ha ha Oh, poor Jim. I get to relax with the baby who can use the bathroom without ever leaving the table. Such luxury, I tell you. Only two things make me sad about this: 1) I really do hate the thought of her seeing, much less using, the inside of a men's toilet. Yuck. She'll probably be scarred for life. And 2) I can tell she probably would rather use the women's toilet but she can't stand listening to the screams from the table if I leave Owen there and go with her. Yes, we can usually hear them all the way in the bathroom.
Still...such luxury for me. Who needs a trip to the spa.
2 comments:
I still take Elena to the bathroom. I just get to take Owen with me most of the time to prevent him from screaming. (Especially at church.) Luckily, our Owen doesn't seem to scream for too long. By the time we hit the bathroom he is done.
I'm going to pretend I didn't read that comment, because I don't want to think there is an alternative to Jim having to do double-bathroom duty. :-) And taking Owen into the bathroom IS hard, especially given his propensity to diving into standing water. As soon as I set him down to help Natalie with her shorts or something...zip...he's off like a runner, looking for a pool. Yeah. I just convinced myself - Jim still gets double-duty.
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