Day 251 and 252 - A Baby's Guide to Defeating Her Daddy

I'm pretty much certain by now that no one wants to hear me gripe and complain about staying home with Ellie. For some, I realize staying at home with their child is/would be a dream come true. For others, they probably look at me and think something along the lines of "Well, you made your own misery". Regardless of your response, that doesn't change the fact that staying home with Ellie each and every day is not always an easy task. The last two days have made that fact abundantly clear.

Honestly, by the time Bethany's arrived home the past two days, I've found myself completely exhausted and pretty much a shell of my normal self. It's not so much that Ellie's being a terrible baby (although she is definitely a difficult baby). It's more that her curiosity, crabbiness from teething, and stubbornness has combined into some kind of Molotov cocktail of terribleness.

Under normal circumstances, Ellie's curiosity isn't a bad thing. In fact, watching her explore the world around her has been something I've really enjoyed over the past year. It's getting more stressful and difficult as time goes on though. It used to be Ellie couldn't really get into any trouble when exploring. The worst that could happen was an unintentional trip down the stairs. Now, while she can definitely traverse the stairs on purpose, that's not all she can explore. 

If a cabinet isn't properly secured, then it's fair game. Therefore, I spend most of the day following Ellie around the house either putting stuff back in the proper cabinets or firmly telling her "NO!". Of course, that's not the only trouble she gets into while exploring. In fact, one of her favorite activities is to try to exit an area in the opposite manner of how she entered it. For example, Ellie has seen fit to crawl underneath our dining room table in her explorations. Rather than exit in the same manner, she instead decides to make things more difficult.  Ellie first chooses to stand, repeatedly bangs her head on the table while trying to leave, and finally erupts in tears when she can't get out.

It so happens that this chain of events is most likely to occur when Ellie is tired. Unfortunately for me, that seems to be all of the time these days. The good thing is that it's easy for me to pinpoint the cause for Ellie's tiredness. Namely, it's her new found desire to wake up each morning between 4:30 and 5:00. Couple that with a steadfast refusal to nap well and one is in for a difficult day filled with lots of eye rubbing, yawning, and incessant crying.

I know that right now is just a phase that Ellie and I are going through. Things will get better, she'll get happier, and consequently, I'll be happier. However, it certainly seems to be taking forever for things to get that way. I just need to keep reminding myself that things can't remain as bad as they have the last two days. After all, it's likely that someday I'll pine for these so-called terrible days. #DaddyWrite