The art of distraction

From getting ready to cleaning the house, it’s all about keeping the little muffin occupied.

My husband and I have become magicians now that we’re parents. Every day is a new challenge to distract our daughter so we can get whatever it is we are doing, done. Getting ready for work takes some serious tag teaming with the hubs. When he’s traveling for work I truly feel like I live in a circus. I try to brush my teeth and my baby wants to pull me in to her room and watch her take out every toy. And if I don’t, helloo tantrum. I try to put pants on and she’s trying to take them off. I literally give her everything and anything I can to gain an extra 30 seconds of “me time”. Our conversations will go like this:

C- “ehhhhh” pointing finger at nothing

Me -“Mommy has to go pee”

C -“ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh” full on melt down

Me- “It’s ok baby, come with me to pee. Oh look, look, LOOK- mommy’s peeing”

C- Screaming and crying and not.having.it.

Me- “the wheels on the bus go round and round…”

My husband and I pull out all of our tricks. Or so we think. When she wants mommy time and I’m already running late, we give her tampons which by the way are her favorite. She puts them in a bowl and walks around proud. When she’s over the tampons we pull out another parent card. Cotton balls, breakfast, clothes, Qtips, mickey mouse club or my toiletry bag. Anything to gain just a few more minutes of getting ready time.

Grocery shopping has become a bit challenging as well. It’s fun to watch her get excited and point at anything and everything. It’s not fun when there’s a list of things to buy and she is taking/ throwing anything within arms reach on the floor. 9 times out of 10 we will be checking out and start noticing stuff we didn’t put in our basket. I gave birth to a ninja.

I’ve learned in just a short 19 months that distraction is a form of art in the parenting world. It can be challenging to keep our littles happy and adult at the same time. I love nothing more than watching her learn. Her curiosity is one of my favorite things and it’s fascinating to watch her little mind work. It’s also fascinating to me when I put on an pants before leaving the house.