Mean and Nasty

This is a chant that Kevin, a very friendly little crocodile says when he is trying to be a "real" crocodile in one of Caitlyn's favorite shows (that I have seen way, way too many times) 64 Zoo Lane. Kevin is unsuccessful at being mean and nasty, but every once in a while when I have to put my tough face on for my job, I find myself chanting this in my head: mean and nasty, mean and nasty. It always makes me smile, so actually it is a little counter productive, but I digress.

I had Caitlyn all to myself for two evenings this week. The first evening, her grandmother (probably in response to my last blog about watching Caitlyn) had her repeat "no toys" before she transferred her into my care. Caitlyn was a doll and a half and we had a wonderful time. But I wanted to buy her legos. I have long thought this is a kid who should have legos and yet that will not be a toy she will get because she has a baby brother and sister who will try to eat them. I wanted to get her a lego set that would stay just in my room. But how to buy her a toy, after Grandma told her (and she agreed) "no toys". That law school stuff really pays off. Caitlyn had helped Grandma clean the kitchen, so I told Caitlyn that I was "paying" her a salary with a toy for cleaning the kitchen. I had to explain it a few times and she never really understood the word "salary", but when we got home and Grandma's eyes got big and scary, Caitlyn explained it to Grandma that this was for cleaning the kitchen. And let's face it Aunt Kathy realy doesn't care what Grandma says, but I digress.

The next evening, Caitlyn pointed out very quickly that she had helped clean the kitchen again and therefore expected a toy. Hmmm, I knew there would be a catch. But once again, I have wanted to buy Caitlyn a book for a while and this would be a great opportunity. I'm getting pretty tired of Dr. Suess--no offence Dr. Suess, but that Wacky Wednesday is for the birds and if I have to read that which-what-who guy again, I'm going to want to scream. I like Madeline--and so, when Caitlyn made a bee line for the toys and I kept steering her to the books, the Madeline book had a little Madeline doll with it. How perfect is that. By now, Grandma knew her dirty looks were ineffective, but when Marisa got home she wrote in big letters on the fridge "NO MORE TOYS" and Adam said, that's for you Aunt Kathy. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

The next morning, Caity was in my room and she went to a lot of trouble to try to make my bed. She even said, how's this, is this good? Luckily I distracted her by letting her jump on the bed, because for a nervous minute or so, I thought she was going to demand her "salary". And we all know how bad I am at mean and nasty.