The dreadfully charming Mr. Right asked me why I've been referring to our 10-month-old daughter as the "Bungle of Joy" in my blog. "Well," I said to him, not sure whether to clench my fist and clock him or hang my head in shame, "I guess it's because I feel like I'm kind of f-ing up this parenting thing. She's supposed to be a 'bundle of joy'--but I'm just sort of bungling through."

Take this weekend for example. As you may know from an earlier blog, Mr. R is in China. Left to my own single-parenting devices, I enjoyed a wonderful lunch/walk/choco-inhaling afternoon with my Girlfriends. Due to the fact that, instead of sleeping like she usually does on walks, the Bungle of Joy incessantly gooed and gaahed to the four dogs walking with us at Discovery Park, and then, upon returning home, would have nothing to do with her crib and, instead, watched us intently while we snorted chocolate truffles and drank mint tea (as though she were noting, "Aha!…so this is what womanhood is like"), my Bungle of Joy skipped her afternoon nap.

After jovial comments like She just doesn't want to miss the party! and She sure seems in high (read: maniacal) spirits!, my Pregnant Girlfriend asked worriedly, "Will this be a problem that she missed her nap?" I blithely said, "Naaw, she'll just fall asleep after you guys leave."

Yeah, right. Well, that was the evening from hell. And with no Mr. Relief pitcher in sight, I just kept throwing baby food and tambourines and itsy-bitsy spiders and "Oooh! Look! There's the dog!"s at her...interspersed with numerous bedtime attempts. She finally went down at 9:45 after balling* for a good long while.

So much for a leisurely night watching Desperate Housewives on DVD.

And now you know why I call this parenting stuff a Bungle of Joy.

Happily ;) even after,
janna
*Uh...that should be BAWL. Now there's a typo for you. Check out the comments about this...

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