Why Are Babies Naughty?

Jillian was a terror yesterday. She refused to take her second nap, so I endured several hours of fussiness and clinginess all with the hope that she would go to bed without incident. I was wrong. She cried and cried and cried before heading up to bed about an hour late. It was awful. Relieved she was in bed I relaxed on the couch with Brian and we watched an episode of Deadwood. Then off to bed for us. I was sleeping soundly and happily when I was so rudely interrupted by a baby screaming.

WTF!!! I hate waking up in the middle of the night. Hate it! It turns me into bad Mommy. My normal Mommy self is usually sweet and loving to Jillian. Probably too sweet. For example, I might say to her as she throws herself to the floor in a fit, "Jillian you silly baby. Why are you on the floor? You are so cute. Please stop hitting your head. Poor little thing." And then I pick her up and give her tons of kisses. And she stops throwing her fit.

But bad Mommy is different. When bad Mommy is disturbed out of a sound sleep her conversation with Jillian is much different. "You are a naughty baby. It is bed time. Mommy needs to sleep. You are doing this on purpose." And then I put her into bed and let her cry. And cry. And cry. And being that she is Brian's child she doesn't quit crying. Because she is stubborn. And I honestly believed she was doing it out of spite because I put her to bed when she didn't want to go. Which might be partly true.

Brian got up and gave her a bottle while I lay in bed pouting. And then I felt guilty that the bad Mom had appeared and I got up, went downstairs, filled her bottle with a little milk, warmed it up in the microwave, which she likes, and changed her diaper before I sat down with her while she ate. And then she went to bed with out a fuss. And when I went in this morning, she was sitting in her crib, with a cute baby smile on her face, ready to start her day. As if she just had the best nights sleep of her life.