The Wrong Baby

H1 was being very naughty one night last week during bedtime. She insisted on having THREE pillows. We told her she can have 2, and if she still felt that’s not enough she can hug Max, Rosy or any other soft toy. But she whined and cried and insisted that 3 pillows it will be.

We being the nice (ahem!) parents that we are, did not give in and stuck to our guns. So amidst a lot of sniffles and threats (I DON'T like you. I DON'T want to play with you) H1 finally went to sleep with TWO pillows (H1– 0, Ze parents – 1, Yeh! We rock! ;o)

We know that there’s absolutely no point in lecturing H1 when she is in the midst of a tantrum and we waited until morning to talk about it. So after she had her morning milk, I said, “H1, why did you behave in such a way last night? It wasn’t very pleasant and it was very selfish of you to insist on having 3 pillows bla bla bla….

After saying ‘sorry,’ she just went into her own thoughts for a while and said, “Ammi, I think you got the wrong baby!”

I asked her what she meant and the poor thing said, “Because I am a naughty girl, you must have got the wrong baby.” Oh dear, my heart melted and I explained to her while hugging her tight that it’s OK for kids to be naughty sometimes because they don’t know any better, but that we expect her not to repeat the same behavior once we have explained to her why it shouldn’t be done.

She thought for a while and says, “Well, I’ll forget sometimes and then I’ll be naughty…sometimes.” My heart stopped melting.