Today I let Kate play with our TV remote for a while, since she was just changing the channel – it’s not like she can accidentally purchase something like she did once with the xbox controller. At some point she wandered over to me at the computer and I put her in her highchair for us to eat lunch.

Afterward I couldn’t find the remote. I tore the living room apart for half an hour wondering what the hell she could possibly have done with it. I know she was in the living room, all doors and gates were closed so it couldn’t be elsewhere. Though I couldn’t recall if I took the remote from her when she came over, which means I could have stashed it anywhere, or if she had put it somewhere. And to add insult to injury, while I was looking I put down my dish of pears I was snacking on and couldn’t find that either. Sometimes pregnancy brain just sucks. Okay, a lot of the time it sucks. I can’t tell you how many times I put something down then turn around and can’t find it again without hunting all over the house.

Finally, after picking up every toy in the living room, pulling up every cushion and looking in every bin – which left pretty much no other options – I checked the printer again. I found the black remote stuffed down inside the fax feed. Oh, and my pears were on a shelf behind the xbox controller, right where I had left it.

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Yesterday I had some homework to do so I quietly locked myself in the bedroom and left Kate playing with Den. This usually goes just fine until she sees or hears me, then a meltdown occurs. In any case she was happily playing with Den, he was reading her books and she was chatting at/with him in incomprehensible toddler-ese.

Den was watching football, as he does every Sunday. He was also getting rather heated at the TV, as he also does every Sunday. I heard some bad words and a lot of angry comments as he told off the refs and stupid plays. I then heard Kate whining and her babbling in a loud, intense voice. I thought his outbursts must have upset her and she was talking to Den to get his attention back.

Today he was mentioned the football game watching and told me that in fact she watched him yelling at the TV and then turned to the TV herself and started yelling at it in toddler-ese! He said it was funny in a humiliating, maybe I shouldn’t be doing that around her kind of way.

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One thing I have been wondering about toys: why the hell do they put the volume control right on the front where the kid can see it? I understand, to a point, the on/off switch. Kate loves turning things on and off. But the volume? Why bother having a “low volume” setting if your kid insists on turning it up all the way? Kate has a LeapTop that she loves to play with, but I am forbidden from turning the volume down. I was trying to watch a TV show the other day and every time I turned her LeapTop down she’d turn it back up. I finally had to just pause until she finished playing with it. (Which took a while.) Then at a friend’s house we were trying to have a conversation while Kate was playing with a musical toy. My friend turned the volume down. I shook my head. “That’s not going to work.” Kate turned it up. My friend turned it down. Kate gave her a look, then turned it back up. So we ended up talking louder.

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Why are kids menus at restaurants so lame? Kate will eat my fancy chicken salad or steak far more readily than she’ll eat a grilled cheese. I just don’t want to have to order a huge portion for her. And I’m glad to see that more restaurants are offering veggies or fruits on the side for kids – she LOVES her fruits and veggies! French fries? Well she likes them, but I’m not going to get them! (At least, not for her!) I usually end up just feeding her part of my meal and ordering some veggie side for her. Which does it for now, but soon she’s going to want more and I’m not going to want to share my meal. Well, plus I bring her fruit cup and yogurt. It keeps her happy, and that’s the important thing when eating out with a toddler!