Cloth pads

With the baby so close to being born, my thoughts naturally turned to the unsavory prospect of wearing horrible disposable pads, along with the ice filled diapers. The ice filled diapers aren't a big deal-- they actually feel good, and you only wear them for the first few days. The pads, however, are a curse that lasts much longer.

I discovered the diva cup a couple years ago and it's changed my life. However, it is no good to me in my post-partum situation.

Enter: cloth pads! I bought one (ONE!) at the coop for something ridiculous like $10 or $15. So my doula mercifully sent me a bunch of links to different patterns and ideas. After looking at those, I went to the fabric store and spent $13 on cotton batting, cotton flannel, some nylon, and some snaps. I've made 3 large post-partum pads with 8 inserts, and 4 regular liners with something like 10 inserts. They're adorable, soft, eco-friendly, and cost a fraction of what you would pay for pads from "Party in your Pants".

Ruby loves the colorful inserts so much, she's been calling them her "lollipops" or her "snacks". Which I find mildly disturbing.

Story

When I was a little girl, I used to know camping, but I don't know it anymore. We swam all day when it was summer. When it was time to go back home, we went back to our houses and goed back into the yard and found cute little raccoons inside our nest (later she said "nets") and they were inside our house and we hugged them and hugged them and there was something to eat on the table and there was something to eat all day long. And play so much that we were tired and went to sleep... and played again and then it was morning and then we thought it was a good job to go to space and then we flew to the moon again. All again. And then we slide out the window and down the tree.

Negotiation

Ruby has been negotiating with me a lot lately. Which is fantastic except that she's 2 years old, and wants to negotiate everything. Half of her "deal making" is reasonable. The other half is either completely ridiculous or undoable.

She'll get dressed but only after reading 2 books, and dancing to a specific song.
She'll listen to me and be good, but not upstairs, just downstairs.
She'll take another bite, but only after balancing the food on top of her glass.
She'll go pee, but first she has to grab her blanket, a book, a figurine, and her necklaces.
She'll go to school and be good, but she's going to whine and scream first.
She won't put the toy to her mouth, but she'll just touch it to her chin.

These "negotiations" are obviously delaying tactics, testing, and bossiness all rolled into one. And speaking of bossiness. Wow. "I'm not a princess, I'm a princUSS. And actually I'm not a princuss, I'm just a fairy. Now you say, 'You're my little fairy.'" I fear for her little brother.

My fantasy these days is that I'll ask her to do something, and she'll just say, "yes, mom" and do it. From what I hear, that's not going to happen for a long time.

Contemplative

After a nap, Ruby was sitting next to me on the couch quietly with her blanket.

Me: Did you sleep well?
R: No.
Me: Did you sleep badly?
R: Yeah.
Me: Why?
R: Because, that's just the way people feel sometimes.

Pause.

Me: I'm sorry. Do you still feel bad?
R: Yeah. That's all people do sometimes. Feel bad.

She looked pretty morose until the mention of chocolate cupcake, and then she jumped off the couch yelling, "Yeah!".