Spineless, easy, cop-out, parenting tactics award

Some days "basking in the glow of motherhood" feels more like trudging along while your infant cries at you for hours on end.

That was yesterday. Miss Ada Pill of the Week Anderson was cranky pretty much from sun up to sun down.

While I was making dinner, Mike came in and offered to finish up so I could spend time with the baby. "No thanks. I'm sick of her today." (I was just being honest.) Making dinner was a nice break from the spit-up, the fists full of my hair (now detached from my head--between her grabby hands and postpartum hair loss, I don't have much more to spare), and the constant fussiness.

After dinner I apologized to the babe. But by 8:00 she was back with grunts, growls and grumps.

All I wanted was to eat my mango sorbet and read for 10 minutes without a cry. While I was holding her, I felt the discontented squirms coming on, so I dipped her pacifier in my treat and popped it in her mouth. That kept her occupied for quite a while. (Success!)

Later, I sheepishly told Mike (this, coming just days after I was saying that the first solids she should eat--after the rice cereal, of course--should be nothing but spinach and green beans). His response: "Come on, Paige!" Like, you win the Spineless, Easy, Cop-Out Parenting Tactics Award.