“…… a kid just like you.”

Remember when you were a kid and the parent you identified the most with had something that they seemed to enjoy so much? Well, Lullibell has discovered that I really like smelly soaps and body washes, lotions and make up. She has liked smelly soaps and lotions for most of her young life too. On Thursday I found her in the bathroom mixing all of her favorite good smellies. Some that she had borrowed from me. I may have over-reacted a bit but I thought I got my point across to her. Not so much

Later that evening-when she was supposed to be in bed-I found her in my bathroom using some more of my things. Now-I am a firm believer that the last thing you do before you go to bed sets the tone for how you sleep so I managed to keep it pretty low key and put her back to bed without losing control of myself and screaming. But I was not happy.

I went back to the knitting project I was working on and managed to get quite a bit more of it finished when I thought I heard a noise. Lullibell had gotten up again and since her face felt a little itchy she decided to put some lotion on it. She does not have overly sensitive skin but when one uses scented hand lotion on baby fine skin it tends to have an unfortunate effect. Her face looked scalded-somewhere around this color.

We managed to make it through Friday with no major incidents of disobeying but we started fresh this morning. After spending the night at our church with an organization that provides relief for homeless families we headed home for showers and general freshening up. After Lulli finished in the bathroom I went in to take my shower. I noticed some suspicious smudges on the bathroom counter but hoped that I had left them myself. Not so much. When next I laid eyes on Lullibell she looked as if she were sporting a heavy brown five o’clock shadow. We washed her face and discovered a whole new level of burning to her skin.

This time instead of losing my mind completely we had a family meeting where we talked about respecting other and how that includes not messing with their stuff! I also tried to communicate to the darling monster that among other things that if she would listen to momma there would be less painful experience involve. Then there was the promise of being grounded for a week from some thing of her choice (tv, computer, skating, etc.) if she ever treated me or my things disrespectfully again.

So now we have the healing process to go through and oily hair to look forward to as long as we are using vaseline on her face to keep it moist! I think this is my way of suffering from the mother’s curse. You know the one. “When you grow up I hope you have a kid just like YOU!”