A recent post by one of our favorite bloggers, Karen Sullivan, the mom behind Baby Chenivan.
I took Nathan to a music class yesterday afternoon and it turned out to be a disaster. One thing after another went wrong and it went downhill fast.
1. When we arrived I noticed his diaper was wet so I quickly changed him before class started. As I pulled everything out of the diaper bag I realized I had used up all his wipes the day before (after the muddy park incident) and forgotten to refill them.
2. I asked if anyone had any extra wipes so I could clean him up and the teacher offered me Lysol Disinfectant wipes. PLEASE NOTE YOU SHOULD NEVER EVER CLEAN A CHILD’S BUTT WITH A LYSOL WIPE!!!! I politely refused her offer.
3. Since it was just a wet diaper I figured I could just put a clean one on him–it wasn’t the end of the world if I didn’t wipe him clean this one time. So I removed the wet diaper, started to put on the clean diaper and just as I am about to fasten the velcro tabs….he peed. Pee went everywhere–on the floor, on the changing pad, all over his pants, and of course all over the clean diaper. Since I was out of wipes, I had nothing to clean it all up with so I started using the clean diapers left in my bag to absorb the pee which was now streaming across the floor in the direction of the other children. Another mother finally handed me a few wipes and I did my best to clean up the rest of the mess. Crisis averted.
4. His pants however were still soaked in pee so I made the executive decision that he would participate in class pantless… I think you can get away with that up until the age 3.
5. Class started and the teacher handed out colorful scarfs and brightly colored eggs filled with beads, so the kids could shake them along to the music. We sang a couple songs….all was good. And then the teacher puled out her guitar and proceeded to jam. I’m not sure if she just got caught up in the moment or she was suddenly reliving her days in a teenage rock band…but she starting playing loud and fierce….and Nathan started crying.
6. She attempted to calm him down by approaching him with said guitar and playing directly in his face. Needless to say, this did not help.
7. I held him close to me and tried to comfort him but it was no use, he was terrified of the guitar. She finally put it away and Nathan climbed out of my lap back into the circle and happily danced to Itsy Bitsy Spider with the other kids. Then the guitar came back, this time accompanied by some Christina Aguilera-like singing….are you kidding me???
8. After realizing this teacher had no intention of scaling back, I packed up our things and we left early.
I felt bad that the music class turned out so horribly, and not wanting Nathan to associate music with fear and trauma for the rest of his life, I changed him into clean clothes, pulled out his xylophone and let have his own jam session.
Karen Sullivan is a mother of one in Manhattan. She blogs at Baby Chenivan.
