Ready, Set, Tantrum!

Ted is back from California!  Clara Jane treated him to an extra special tantrum this morning.  Welcome home, Daddy!  It all began when Clara was not permitted to wipe her own bottom with the toddler wipes.  Now Bird Nation, before you all start thinking, "What's the harm in that?!" we would tell you that Clara loves--LOVES--to pull her a wipe out of a container, or a tissue out of a box.  Tissues aren't terribly pricey so we've sacrificed a box or two, but toddler wipes area bit more dear.  More than that though, tissues won't stop up the trash, but a handful of toddler wipes will sure stop up the potty (and as our longtime Fans know, we've only got the one here at Raleigh House).  Curiously, Clara is not so very into unrolling the toilet paper.  Rather, she prefers to tear off about a quarter of one square with which to wipe.  Or, she likes to tear off  a few squares, but wad them up into a tight little ball before wiping with it.  Who knows what she's thinking?  But we know you can't tell her anything.  This penchant is Reason Number 89 Why We Wash Hands After Using the Potty.

So there Clara was, wailing away on the potty, and--bare bottomed--off the potty in the kitchen by Julie's feet as Julie did the dishes.  We would like to say that she'd been wiped at this point, over her vociferous protests.  So we were just waiting for her to simmer down before getting her dressed for the day.  Eventually, she did, and said her signature line ("I ready."), but she wasn't really: she meant she was ready to go back to the potty and be given another go at the previously identified as Mommy-Daddy-only toddler wipes.  Hooray!  Round two!  Round two featured, oddly (given how Clara likes to roll--ha ha!--with her toilet paper), a length of toilet paper which was manhandled with passion in the kitchen at Julie's feet by the wailing Birdie.

In time, Birdie really was ready, so she isn't still tearing about in her pajama shirt and nothing else.