Katy goes on strike!

Yesterday Benji and I had a meeting downtown in the morning, so we left Katy in the care of our neighbour, Margaret, and her son, Chris. They have been visiting and taking Katy for naps since she was a newborn, so she knows them quite well and is always delighted when she sees them. We thought our plan was fairly fool-proof (silly us!!)... we needed to leave the house at 9:15am. As Katy is usually ready for her morning nap around 9ish, we'd put her down and then Margaret & Chris would come over. Chris, who is home-schooled, could then just do schoolwork while she napped (which she has been fairly consistent recently with having at least a 90 min nap then). When she woke up, we had left a bottle of breastmilk, so if she was hungry before I arrived home (which I thought would be no later than 11am), Katy could have that. We also left the stroller out so if she did wake up and was fed, they could always take her for a walk if I wasn't yet home. Seemed simple enough, right??

WRONG!!! Katy lulled us into thinking she would cooperate by going down as usual for her nap right before 9am. Benji went next door and let them know she was down, and so they came over and off we went. However, Katy, who I expected to sleep until AT LEAST 10:30am, if not longer, since she had been up late the night before, decided she would wake up at 9:30am. Apparently they tried to just give her a pacifier to see if she would continue napping, but no such luck. She was wide awake. So next up... Margaret gives Katy her bottle. Now anybody who knows Katy knows she LOVES her food and has NEVER cared how she gets it, as long as she gets it!! But for the first time ever, Katy goes on strike, absolutely refusing the bottle. Won't take a single drop! They tried several times, but she just wasn't having it. So of course now they are dealing with a uncooperative, overtired & hungry but stubborn little girl until I arrived home. And as things would have it, our meeting ran very late, so it was closer to 11:30 when I arrived home to a VERY mad, screaming baby on the front porch. They had just also arrived back from taking her for a walk, hoping that would lull her back to sleep, but it never happened. While Margaret assured me she wasn't crying the ENTIRE time from 9:30 onwards, Katy was definitely not happy.

As soon as I took Katy, she held on to me as if she were desparate, touching my face, and the crying immediately stopped. I, of course, was absolutely shocked to see she had not drank her bottle. I offered it to her, wondering if somehow the milk was off, but this time Katy started drinking away! So it appears it was nothing but a stubborn, strong-willed little girl deciding she would rather starve then take it... and in her mind, make Mommy come home! As soon as she had drank from both the bottle and me, she was back to smiling and squealing with Chris & Margaret, who I was still chatting with. Fortunately, our neighbours are wonderful and took her behaviour all in stride. Katy continued to talk non-stop for another hour or so until I put her down for a now MUCH needed nap around 1. She slept until 4!!!

I have told Katy that when she is a bit older, she is going to apologize in person to Margaret and be available to them to perform hard labour for a couple of hours!!! :) :)