One of THOSE parents

I am one of THOSE parents.




The ones who buy toys at the checkout for 30 seconds of peace, the ones who abandon overflowing trolleys full of groceries metres from the checkout because the tantrum is too loud to continue, the ones who allow their children to "taste" the coffee to avoid having the cup tipped all over them, the ones who smile and nod at strangers who say "teething?" even though it isn't the case, the ones who shake their head and say "she NEVER does this, I'm so shocked" even though it's the 124th tantrum that day...

The ones who sit at the computer at 9.30pm on a Saturday night trawling for the least offensive looking baby leash.





These "harness buddy" backpacks are a great idea. My husband is horrified that I am considering this, but my mother agrees it is essential. My little girl hates sitting in the pram at the shops, she always has even as a little baby she'd scream her head off. Now that she can walk and talk she demands that the pram stays in the car or if she agrees to sit in it she will only last about 10 minutes so we let her walk but it turns into a run and she refuses to hold hands!




This is a photo of me in a harness at Disneyland I think I was about the same age as my Tinker, bit of a grumpy look on my face but that might have been because I had a regular harness not a "harness buddy" with an animal head.

Anyway so I took Tinker to a baby store to show her the "harness buddies" so that she could choose the one she liked best. My plan was to make a big deal of it and then wear it myself so that she wanted to wear it- worked a treat with hats and shoes and tooth brushes so I thought this would be the same.

We went through all the different animals:




I got her to say what each one was and then to say the noise the animal makes. This all worked fine, she called the unicorn a goat but hey she is only 1. Then she smiles sweetly and says "gat?"

-No darling there isn't a cat one, what about a nice dog one? Look at the doggy, woof woof woof, isn't he cute? He is just like Beatrice (our dog) don't you want the dog?

"No." Then I went through all the other options again.

Her reply "meow. gat. meow meow meow".

So I ask the ratty looking assistant- ah excuse me do you have a cat harness buddy?

"No but we have a dog one."

-I know. She doesn't want a dog she wants a cat.

"Well they are all the same really, have you showed her the frog?"

-She wants a cat.

"What about the unicorn, little girls like the unicorns."

-No she really likes cats, I guess I'll keep looking til I find a cat one.

So the woman raises her eyebrows. I know what she is thinking, "spoilt little brat..." she gave me a fake smile and we left.

Oh ok so maybe we didn't leave right away.

I had to buy Tinker a stupid little Easter chick toy first because she wouldn't let go and there were people behind me and I couldn't possibly let her have a screaming tantrum right after the "gat" debacle. Then she'd really look like a brat wouldn't she.

So here I am still searching for a stupid cat harness online. If anyone finds one, let me know.

While you are there being helpful see if you can have a word to my nice neighbours. The good ones next door. They have just put their house on the market and I am panicking because Tinker has this daily routine where we go looking for their "gat" and she waves to him from every window of the house and we sing a song to him when we hang out the washing. I'm thinking maybe I need to get one of these:




I could pay the new neighbours to strategically place it all over their property during the day at set times so Tinker can still wave to the "gat" and we can still sing our song...



Or not...