Ellie is a poor mistreated and ignored baby. Yeah, that's
not really true. You can go ahead and hang up on child protective services now.
Quick before they pick up the phone.
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| Child Protective Services, how may I direct your call? |
The truth is that she's actually quite loved and adored in
our home. She gets three square meals a day, a nice amount of toys to play
with, and books read to her whenever she wants. She even gets all of the hugs
she can handle and has her own swing in the backyard to boot.
However, in spite all of the love and care (and stuff) she
receives, I'm (still) relatively certain Ellie believes she is ignored, mistreated,
and/or abandoned from time-to-time. Oh, what's that? You need an example? I'd
be more than happy to oblige.
For quite some time, Ellie has actually been staying alone
in the church nursery during Sunday mornings. Well, not alone, she's supervised
and everything. She's just been doing so without Bethany or I present which has
been super nice. It means we can both actually enjoy church on Sunday mornings
without a baby on our laps getting antsy and smacking us in the face.
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| For the record, it's not always bad having a baby on our laps on Sunday morning... |
Beginning yesterday though, Ellie was given the choice
between staying in the baby room or moving to the toddler room. I say given the
choice because apparently she was set down on the ground equidistant from the
two options and told to go where she wanted. I didn't actually see this, but I
like to imagine her going back and forth, staring into the two rooms before
making her final decision. For the record, her final decision was the toddler
room.
In case you're wondering, that was the choice we would wanted
her to make. As Bethany stated, Ellie already knows where all of the snacks and
treats were kept in the baby room so it was probably time for her to move on.
All was well and good until I walked by between services on
my way to the restroom. One of the nice things about the toddler room is that
it has a window where you can glance in and watch the kids play. It actually
kind of reminds me of an old-fashioned pet store window. The problem with said
window is that one can see through it both ways. Therefore, just as I spotted
Ellie, she was able to spot me. When that happened, she came running to the
window, large orange ball in her hands, crying all the way.
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| I only wish said orange ball was this big. |
The responsible parenting thing to do would probably be to
take responsibility for my actions and soothe my child. Instead, I found it
prudent to duck out of the line of sight and head for the hills (or bathroom).
At least I learned my lesson though. When heading back by the window, I didn't
stop and stare. Instead I just took a quick glance to see my daughter in the
arms of a very beleaguered looking blonde guy. Pretty much all I could think
was "Poor beleaguered blonde guy. Hopefully she calms down for him
soon".
With that, I pretty much wiped the situation from my mind
and went about my business until picking up a very relieved Ellie after church.
While the staff said she was really good, I found myself slightly curious as to
whether or not that was the case. Unfortunately, poor beleaguered blonde guy
wasn't around for me to get his side of the story. I guess I'll never know.
#DaddyWrite
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