Pause. Rewind. Play.

It was one of "those days" this morning. FiG woke up and chatted with her friends in the crib for a while. She was happy. She asked for cereal. We went to the kitchen, she sat on the counter, and I fixed coffee and cereal for us both. And so it began....

FiG: I don't want green spoon.
Me: Here's a silver spoon like Mommy's.
FiG: I don't want cereal. Want Mommy's cereal.
Me: Let's go to the table and eat our cereal together. Here's your coffee.
FiG: I don't want cereal. I don't want my chair. (I put her down on the floor and returned to kitchen to fetch my coffee.) (Thud.) I throw my banana.
Me: FiG, pick up your banana. Now, let's sit and eat.
FiG (in chair): I don't want scoot in. Push chair out. Push chair out.
Me: When you're ready to eat, I will push you closer to the table.

Silence....she threw her bowl of cereal off the table. I really would have prepared differently had I know we were going to be doing food art on the floor this morning.

Mind you, this whole time she's been whining and screaming. But now the alligator tears start to roll. She can't come to terms with what she's just done. I put her out of the dining room and clean up the mess. Then calm her down and go back to the table for a do-over. She eats two bowls of cereal, part of a banana, and drinks all of her coffee (warm milk). We dressed and did pig-tails and the only other flare up was when I had to chase her down to retrieve the potty seat from her after repeated requests to not remove it from the bathroom.

I got to work at 10:30. Crickey. I will be working late so A-Mo gets to negotiate the evening meal and the daily protest over the availability and timing of snacks and cookies.

A high note for the day is that for the first time in a long time I'm not wearing any wool - yippee!