Birth Control

My sister and brother in law asked me to watch the youngest of my nieces this weekend for a couple of hours. It was a spur-of-the-moment deal, so I had no time to get any toys/activities/snacks together. Our cabinets were bare and we didn't have the first diaper in the house. Those circumstances made it hard enough to watch a two year old, but Liv was having a case of the terrible twos.

When my sister dropped her off, she said, "She hasn't had a nap. Put her in front of the TV & she'll fall asleep. By the way, here are diapers & a sippy cup." (Smart momma.) Unfortunately, it wasn't quite as easy as putting her in front of the TV.

This is really Costa's first time being around someone as little as Olivia. My sister and the girls have been over before, but I usually keep Costa in her crate so that we avoid absolute mayhem. When we had Sophia, who's 4, a couple of weeks ago, I was able to block Costa in the kitchen & put Soph at a bar stool, up high enough to evade any unseen licking attacks.

It took Costa about 15 minutes to get over kissing Olivia, which made Liv scream. Constantly. Then she wanted to be held. Then she wanted to get down. Then she wanted to sit on the couch. Then she wanted to walk around. Where she'd be kissed to death. Which made her scream some more. It was a pretty nasty cycle. And it lasted for about 30 minutes before I finally took both of them outside.

Olivia would run, Costa would chase. Back and forth for another 30 minutes. Then Liv wanted to go inside, so we'd go inside and she'd cry that she wanted outside. Finally I got tired of the up/down, in/out, repeat, so I gave her raisins & put her on the couch. She didn't like the raisins, she wanted cookies. Guess who doesn't have cookies.

Then she would get down and chase Costa. Costa would assume she was playing and chase her back, trying to eat the raisins she was carrying around. Which would make Liv cry.

Finally, I put her in our bedroom to take a nap. Scream.

Turned on the TV to the Disney channel. Scream.

Bring her water cup. Scream.

She locked herself in the bedroom. Great. Thankfully, I had locked the connecting bathroom door from the inside, so that she wouldn't get up and go in there, so I was able to get to her.

Finally, I think she saw what she was up against, so this time, she climbed up on the couch and finally fell asleep until her parents got there.

The terrible twos are no fun. What made it worse is that she was constantly crying for mommy or daddy and I was not a good consolation prize.

There were about 5 minutes that everyone was getting along, and I snapped this pic with my phone.

My sister has actually had to put chain locks on their doors at home to keep Liv from wandering outside whenever she feels like it.

I've definitely had a good dose of birth control for a while. I'm sure AJ is glad. After all, just the night before I had been whining about wanting a baby...

(In all honesty, it wasn't that bad. She just wanted her mommy, who she is desperately attached to. And I was not a good substitute.)