Friday 1 July 2011

Is Immaculate Always Necessary?


I’m a messy eater.  I think we’ve established that over recent months.  Mummy does her best to keep me clean, but let’s face it, she’s not going to win that battle.  Short of stripping me to my nappy at every meal, there is no bib or other clothing protection on the market to keep my whites white.  
It seems there are clean babies and there are dirty babies.  I am a dirty baby.  What can I say?  It’s standard practice for me to need a couple of changes before I even leave the house.  I understand that if there’s a leaky nappy, I have to have clean clothes straight away, but if it’s just a bit of milk, is it really worth it?  I’ve seen Mummy just rub it in on her own trousers, so why subject me to the inconvenience of another change?
It is a great source of stress for Mummy.  She does like me to look presentable, so I know she finds it frustrating when I have dribble marks on my tummy or tomato stains on my sleeve.  I think she could pass off her anxiety as a concern for the environment (why would you want the washing machine on non-stop?) but I think it might also have something to do with her not wanting people to think she’s a slummy mummy.  Scummy mummy = scummy baby?  I don’t know that necessarily correlates, but perhaps that’s how she used to look at people before I turned up.
I think a lot of people don’t really comprehend how difficult it is to get food into a baby until they’ve tried it for themselves.  Even training by trying to spoon food into a slowly-rotating melon with a hole the size of a 10p piece in one side doesn’t really cut it.  So I think Mummy remembers that – she was one of those people.  She’s doing a great job, but I do think she sometimes worries too much about what the strangers on the next table are thinking about us. 
If they’re talking about us at all, I’m sure it’s to say how cute I am rather than how good or bad a mummy she is!  It can be annoying though, when the people are staring or pulling faces – it’s pretty off-putting. 
So how much food, or other foreign substances, is it acceptable to let your child have about their person when they cross the threshold of your home? A couple of spots of milk?  A little lunch? Mud? Or nothing at all?
CB

6 comments:

  1. I feel your Mummy's pain CB but I suspect that she may have looked down her nose at me before she had you! I have also become a lot less judgemental, post children. There are certain things that still cause my eyebrow to rise slightly but on the whole I tend to be more concerned about my own children rather than deciding if other mummies are slummy or yummy. I know I definately fall into the category of slummy with yummy intentions!

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  2. Thanks for the comment. Daddy says Mummy is far more understanding these days. I guess that comes from a better understanding of what is actually going on!

    I love the idea of "slummy with yummy intentions!" You might read that again soon!

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  3. Oh Chatty Baby! I work on the theory that if it stays in the house then it doesn't matter, I'm not really Hyacinth Bucket ;)

    Time is a healer CB, by the time you are 3 mummy won't give a monkeys !

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  4. Thanks Mammasaurus. I think Mummy's already given up.

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  5. My baby is a mucky eater just like you! Your mummy will have seen that today actually as I saw her at Blog Camp and my baby had a sticky face that she didn't want cleaned... Babies aren't meant to be clean all the time ;)

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  6. LITN, your baby was lovely and Mummy didn't notice any stickiness on her face at all!

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