....it only sounds that you had a one of kind daughter & she would have it her way no matter what ....
Well I said I needed to leave this a bit, but upon reading all the posts again and hitting on Barry's line (italics above)had to say, yes.
And it brouught up more memories.
She was stridently independent from infancy.
I remember her at just turned 2 attempting to navigate her legs into training pants, (too big for diapers now). The re is a photo of her sitting on my bed, bith legs gone through one leg opening and out the waist, an expression of determination on her little face.
Not the last time I saw that expression. Riding the bycycle received on her 5th birthday. Learning to tie her shoes. My god, she spent hours sitting on the front porch, doing it over and over, howls of anger pouring out of her. Any attempt to offer guidance or help was met with fierce rejection. "I will do it MYSELF!" Theshoes were key, because she knew that she could not go to kindergarten without know how to tie them herself. More than once I suffered romonstrations from her father or my Mother or my siblings. "Why don't you just get her the velcro shoes." "Because I want her to know how to tie laces." Had the same kind of arguments about analogue and digital watches. I wanted my children to learn to read time from analog. Was I a monster Mom or what?
Anyway, Andie was something of a Houdini when she was little. She hated clothes from infancy. always finding ways of escaping. My poor brother was at his wit's end after babysitting her one evening. He couldn't keep her inside her Pampers. I came home to find her with black electrician's taped wrapped around waist of the diaper to keep her from taking it off. She was a year old. Kevin pointed to the pile of stripped off papmers and said unless we got her lockable diapers he ouldn't babysit her again.
Bathtime. She was fish. 2 favourite things. She would put her face under the water running from the tap and blow. She loved it. I don;t know where she learned it but she always did it, whe I bathed her. Getting out of bath was followed by a dripping wet hug, she always managed to dodge the towel and a streak out fo the bathroom shrieking with laughter me chasing her with unused towel in hand. What a kid.
Hated shoes to the point of screaming. Remember Striderites? Andie was knock kneed and slightly pigeon toed. Pediatrician said put her shoes on the wrong feet for an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon to straighten her feet. Took only 2 bouts of her wailing to know I didn't have the heart to keep up that treatment. She learned how to get out of shoes anyway. Even the little lace locks became a game for her.
Funnily enough, though all of her life she preferred being barefoot (so do I) this girl had so many shoes as a teen and adult. She could not resist them, even the ones that were too painful to wear more than an hour.
Most babies learn how to escape a playpen by standing on a toy and climbing over. Not Andie. She tunneled her way out. Bit and chewed the vinyl skirting at the bottom fo the mesh, tand out she went. I don't know how many times I sewed up the torn spots. I finally gave up.
She learned doors and gates pretty quickly too. I spent most of her 3rd year of life with her baby sister on my hip as I ran up and down the neighborhood looking for my escaped child. You can imagine how I dreaded her learning to ride the bicycle. She would just be able to go further and faster.
Thankfully, by the time she was ready for a car, she was very responsible and even more considerate of my anxiety. If she was going to be even 10 minutes late, she would give me a call and let me know what was up.
Should say that Andie and I didn't really bond until she was about 11 or 12. Until then she had always been her Daddie's girl, (ezcept when she was sick or a friend hurt her feelings). Suddenly, she just wanted to hang out with me and sing with me and tell me stuff abourt school and friends, when before I had wheedle. It was a year after I started working. Not being an at home mom anymore, maybe she realised she should take advantage of any time she could get.
I dunno.
Well damn, I said I was going to leave it a bit and all this stuff just bubbles up to the surface.