My Manipulative Little Nut

Sometimes I call Kate a nut. Sometimes I think she is manipulating me, so today I've decided she's a manipulative nut. Just as I sat down to write about how I was actually able to shower today, I heard Kate begin to cry. She used to wake up happy and babbling, but ever since she learned to roll over, she wakes up, rolls onto her stomach and begins to cry. So I hear her cry this aft and sure enough, she's on her tummy. By this time she was sucking contentedly on her blanket and wasn't crying anymore. I laughed at her and said, "Ok my love, it's time to roll back on your back all by yourself" and to my surprise and delight, she DID! I laughed again and told her how brilliant she was and walked out of the room to get some leave-in conditioner to put in my hair.

I had hardly turned my back and she started BAWLING, like I'd told her that I was never coming back and she had to live in the crib forever. You could tell she was using real tears and everything, she was crying so hard. So I come back in, still massaging the conditioner in my hair and I say, "My silly nut, I love you, I'll be one sec and you can get out of the crib!" in a sickeningly bright and cheery voice to show her my sincerity. She continued to cry so I put my face right down to her face and kissed her nose and she stopped crying as abruptly as a faucet being turned off. Then I stood straight again and she started to scream, like she couldn't believe I'd leave her AGAIN. By this time I was done with the hair and I picked her up and kissed her tears and laughed at her and told her she was a crazy nut and she stopped crying so fast, she hiccuped. Then she started to laugh. The tears were still wet in her eyes and she's laughing her ass off.

Now I can't decided if she genuinely needed some mummy loving, or if she's just checking to see how fast I'll come when she cries.