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October 29, 2005
You can tell she's the second kid by the toys she gets
My kids were born backwards.
I don't mean breech, although Jamie wanted to give that a try. I mean the kid who put nothing in her mouth as a baby and toddler should have been born second, so when the older kid was playing with choking hazards I wouldn't have to pay much attention. I couldn't get Jamie to put teething equipment in her mouth so she could soothe herself. She wouldn't even feed herself food until she was almost a year old, and I tried everything, including Twizzlers!
Katie, on the other hand, will put anything in her mouth. She'd teeth on a frozen flagpole if we had one. She's already put food into her own mouth, and I think has figured out how to repeat that purposefully.
I have two problems with this. First, it's icky. I don't want her putting dirty stuff in her mouth, and I don't want her slobbering and spitting up all over everything. Toys that made it through Jamie's babyhood in mint condition have become repulsively smeared with curds and whey. Second, I've become very lax in what I let Jamie play with. She has a huge change collection. I recklessly buy toys rated for kids over 3, if I think she can grasp their concepts and it's a safety rating thing. Jamie's pretty good at cleaning up her crap, but she's not paranoid about all the little pieces that Katie wants to shove into her gaping craw.
On top of the small pieces issue, I've become generally more lax about parenting, thank god. I was a little over the top as a first-time mom (is this news to anyone?) My toy selection rules have been reduced to: if it occupies her, isn't likely to cause her to bleed, and is either edible or would be difficult to swallow whole, she can have it.
Yesterday's list alone contained:
- A Nestle Chocolate Chip Bag. The giant Sam's size bag. I did zip it shut so she couldn't pull it over her head.
- The wisk attachment to the KitchenAid.
- A sheet of twist ties. These went straight into her mouth.
- A truck from my dad's childhood. Sharp metal edges, pinch factors, loose pieces and all metal construction. I'm not even sure it's safe for my husband, much less my babies.
- Poker chips.
It'll be a miracle if she makes it to 10.
Posted by me at October 29, 2005 10:12 AM