Wednesday, May 31, 2006

A Whole New World

Today I bribed Jaynie with M&M's so she'd entertain her brother while I showered. It's not the first time I've done this, either. It's not something I'm proud of, but at least I'm clean.

When we first brought Jonas home, I spent a lot of time and energy into keeping him safe from her. Never leaving them together in a room unattended. If I had to use the bathroom or switch loads of laundry or whatever, I would either bring Jaynie with me or make sure Jonas was in a room she couldn't get into. Now I'm lugging his exersaucer into her room, announcing that he's going to watch her play while I take a shower, and asking her to "come get me if he starts crying". Amazing.

(She did a pretty good job of keeping him entertained, too. She was pretending to be Miss Cathy (the leader of her guided playgroup) and all her stuffed animals were "the other kids". She was doing "Happy and You Know It" when I left the room. Jonas thinks she's great.)

About 5 min. into my shower she barged into the bathroom and started telling me an elaborate story about her elephant (named Manny, thanks to Ice Age 2). I interrupted and told her to go tell the story to Jonas - she was supposed to be watching him. She looks me in the eye and says "That's crazy talk, Mommy." Honestly. I don't know where she gets these things.

(It was right about then that I said "If you go back in there and keep him happy, I'll give you TWO M&M's!" She looked at me for a beat, said "Oh, OKAY!" and ran off. When I found them she was singing Wheels on the Bus and he was laughing and drooling.