Not the Mama

From an unnamed university in the greater San Francisco Bay Area...

I'm primarily taking advantage of summer freedom by taking time off work, but Officemate is enjoying the ability to bring her kids into the office. When she told me she was bringing her youngest (almost 2) daughter in today, I was thrilled. She is so cute.

I started this job when Officemate was pregnant with this daughter and met the baby when she was just a couple weeks old. So tiny, so sweet. Officemate brought the baby in pretty frequently in the first six months and I loved it. She was so good! I had never met such a well-behaved baby. Sweet disposition, hardly ever cried, would let anyone hold her. It's been really fun watching her grow up.

So today when I came in (late), I was surprised to be greeted with the sound of baby screams. It's not that I've never heard her cry before, but it's usually pretty infrequent, and never at this decibel. I wondered what happened.

Turns out, she's just diving headfirst into those "terrible twos." The sweet little baby I adored so much is, as our dean calls her, a "little lunatic" now. When I greeted her this morning, she threw her baby doll at me, then took off both her shoes and hurled them at the wall. Officemate needed to run to the other side of the building and didn't want to bring the baby with her, so she asked if I could watch her for a couple minutes, which is usually my favorite thing ever. But this time, the second Officemate was out of eyesight, the baby went nuts.

"Mmmmmmaaaaaammmmmmmaaaa!"
"It's okay; she'll be right back." I go to pick her up.
"NO!" She swats my shoulder.
"Oh wow, you need your diaper changed."
"MAMA DO!!!"
"Yeah, I wasn't volunteering, just letting you know that it needs to happen."
"NO YOU DO!"
"Right, I'm not trying to."

But it's futile to try to argue with an almost-two-year-old. She really is a little lunatic. As soon as Officemate came back, changed the diaper, and give her some Cheerios, the baby was back to being the little sweetheart I'd loved so much. When it was time for Officemate to bring her to her daycare she smiled sweetly and waved "byeeeeeeeee!" in a way that melted my heart and got me to agree to babysit her this Thursday night. Because I am a big lunatic.