I Knew Our Lunch Date Was Over When

My Facebook status update for today:

I knew our coffee shop lunch date was over when she carefully applied the cream cheese side of her bagel to her scalp. That she then commenced to rub it back and forth seemed gratuitous.

What I didn't mention was that after I pried the soggy bagel from her hand, and tried to rake the cream cheese from her sticky strands of her, she grabbed a baby wipe. First, she wiped the cream cheese off the table, sort of. Then she used that same wipe to clean her mouth, pretending to blow her nose in it (she blows, but out of her mouth, not to her nose). After generously offering her used wipe to the woman at the table next to us, who shockingly refused, she lifted her shirt high and began to swab at her (perfectly clean until then) belly button.

Life with a toddler. Ah. It's joyous, miraculous, entertaining, beautiful, and occasionally... completely exhausting. 

I mean, it could be so much worse. She's a pretty easy going toddler. She's active but not crazy. I can easily have a conversation with a friend while Calliope is around... as long as we are in a toddler friendly environment. 

But the cumulative effect of battling to hold her down to change her diaper (while she thrashes, usually while laughing and not crying, so that's lucky), of telling her it's time to get dressed/put on her coat/changer her diaper only to have her run, giggling, the opposite direction, of telling her "let's go to your room" only to have her veer off in the opposite direction, to ask her to get A book from the bookshelves to read on the potty only to have her fling EVERY book onto the floor... sometimes it's tiring. 

Hence the lunch in the coffee shop. At least she's contained in a high chair, and the cream cheese smeared on the front window of the cafe is someone else's responsibility (I'm sorry! I did my best to get off as much as I could!).