WOW I forgot how stubborn a 2 year old can be!

Last night after work I babysat Abigail while her Mom & Dad went off to see the Chili Peppers.
When I arrived I went in to the kitchen to chat to Eva about what to feed her, how to get her off to bed, etc. while Abby ran in and out stark naked to show me toys!

I know I'm biased, but she is just SO SO cute! We played with her toys, watched some VERY strange kiddy tv (one about some odd looking bunnies and one about 3 friends - a little girl who's an explorer, a talking big and a yellow monster with orange spots) very odd! At one point a bunch of characters were on screen and she said 'eight' - I said back to her 'yes, ocho' (spanish for 8) and she said 'ocho' back to me. I was very impressed!

Eventually by 8pm I thought I'd try to start getting her to settle down for bed. So, we filled up her cup with milk and put on her nappy (diaper) for bed time and we went to lay down to read bed time books.

She really surprised me by how many words she knew! Eva had told me that she could say all her numbers to 10 in English and Spanish and lots of other words, but to actually hear her say them to me was amazing really. And when I wasn't paying enough attention she'd grab my arm and say 'Neek' (short for Monique I think:)

Anyhow, so after about half an hour of reading in bed, she had finished her milk and I THOUGHT she was settling down. Then she jumped out of bed and ran to the living room yelling 'wee wee, wee wee.' She has only just started using her little 'potty' in the last few weeks (so it's still all very exciting). She was very good, and I followed the routine by going to the bathroom with her afterwards, sorting it out, washing our hands, and then most exciting part of course - flushing! Ha ha, she's so cute. Afterwards she stood up on the closed toilet seat to wash her hands with some of that fun super sudsy hand wash. She held out both of her hands so I'd put some on each hand - then she proceeded to wipe the soap all over her arm and shoulder! HA - I wish I had had a camera. She also brushed her teeth (i.e. sucked the toothpaste off the brush, then shook her head around a bit), and rinsed her mouth out with water (i.e. holding her hands under the stream then spilling it all before getting a few drops to her mouth).

By this time though she was really over tired, so of course did NOT want to go to bed. To make a long story short, it took me until nearly 10pm to get her to sleep. I tried everything! Reason (I know, trying this with a 2 year old is just useless), offer of book reading (Abby's response - no), offer of putting her 'babies' and bears to bed (no), picking her up and carrying her into bed (no - screaming), more milk (no), cookie (no) - well yes - then no to the offer of eating it in bed, etc etc.

Eventually I just had to give up. I just didn't want her to be up until they got home though, she was SO over tired as it was. By 10 she finally said yes to me when I asked if she wanted to go to bed. By this time she had her dressy shoes on (not sure why - but she wanted them on so I didn't argue), and she refused to put her nappy on (she still needs it for the evenings). So, we read for about 15 minutes (until I thought my arm was going to fall off - holding a book in one hand is HEAVY! She likes to hold onto your thumb when she's sleepy so can rub it - she's done this since she was little for comfort - but that only leaves one hand for book holding and page turning!) Then she was sleeping!!!!! I thought. I tried to sneak her nappy on and she opened her eyes - looked straight at me and said 'no, no, no!'
OK
Read a bit more (I couldn't see the book by then cause it was so dark so I just made it up - quite amused myself actually), tried to sneak it onto her again - no no no.
So I gave up.
I'd rather she was sleeping then fight her all night to get her nappy on.

Then I finally ate the nice dinner Eva made for me at 10pm and relaxed **SIGH**

When they got home we peeked in on Abby and she had moved across the bed laying sprawled sideways, with her shoes on, stark naked laying on her tummy - we were all laughing - SO cute!

Today - I am exhausted! I love watching Abby, but wow it's SO much easier to have her during the day, then give her back to Mom when she gets tired. Eva - I salute you!


oh - and a random side note

I was happy to read that commuters on public transport yesterday were travelling in higher temps than those in which cattle are transported. Buses reached 52c and the tube reached 47c. EU guidelines say cattle shouldn't be transferred in temps above 27 - hmmmm
Gosh I can't WAIT to travel home today as we are expected to hit 36c (97f) today - the hottest July temperature in the UK on record!