✅ The Nice List

Happy Holidays

This time, there was no sign that Merri was actually capable of feeding herself. She could grasp her spoon, but rarely managed to bring it to her mouth and looked so proud when she actually managed to consume something. Tarja fed her too; supplementing the train noises with her best impression of dump truck noises when she was using Merri's special baby cutlery to deliver food from plate to mouth.

In between feeding the baby, Tarja tried to get some of her own dinner. She found that rather than switching cutlery, it was easier just to pick up bites of meat with her fingers. At some point she slipped into the routine of dipping tiny potatoes or little sausages into the various sauces arranged on the table. And then she saw Merri watching her, fascinated.

"You want some?" she asked. And she knew that she had to let the kid try. Manipulating a spoon might be too hard for her, but Merri could probably grab something and dip it into one of the pots. Even if she didn't know what they all were, a lot of the sauces were interesting and different colours, and that was surely something a baby would understand.

They had dinner until Merri started to get bored, and then went to open some more gifts. And then when they got hungry again, there was plenty of dinner left for another couple of little plates. It meant that Tarja got to eat more, stretching the meal through the evening, and also let Merri play with all the different toys that she wanted.

They were both having fun now. No hesitation, and no regrets. Tarja was getting into the habit of reacting to what Merri wanted at any particular moment, which worked well for both of them until she realised that she hadn't been paying any attention to the clock.

"Oh, wow," she said, while wiping Merri's face clean after sharing another little plate of potatoes with interesting red and green dip. "It's pretty late, isn't it? I think maybe it's past your bedtime."

"Nah!" Merri answered, and turned around to reach for another gift. She didn't seem to care that there was sauce all over her face, but Tarja managed to hold her still for long enough to get her clean.

"It's not good for you to stay up so late..." Tarja started, and then realised that she was starting to sound just like her own mum. She thought that instead of just making rules, she should make an effort to explain why little kids needed an earlier bedtime; only to realise that she had absolutely no idea. Was it because they traditionally woke up at 4 o'clock on Christmas morning to drive their parents nuts with any present that could make a loud noise? She was sure she'd heard horror stories of kids who were naturally awake way too early, but in that case it wouldn't be relevant. Merri had woken a little earlier than usual today, but not that much.

"Okay," Tarja said. "I guess you can stay up. But if you start getting tired, I want you ready to go to bed right away. Okay? No struggling to get a grumpy kid washed and changed. So... if you want to stay up until midnight, we need to get you cleaned up now. So there's no delay later."

Merri thought about it, and nodded. She held onto Tarja's hand as they climbed the steps to the bathroom. Tarja decided against looking in the spare room just yet. She was sure that she didn't want to see it. Although she did promise herself that she would attempt to wash everything down, rather than waiting for Merri to grow up so she could do it. Merri had done enough chores for a lifetime.

It wasn't too hard convincing the little girl to wash her hands and face; although she seemed more interested in creating as much lather as possible than actually using the soap to bring about cleanliness. Brushing her teeth was harder; but she could eventually be persuaded to keep her hands out of the way while Tarja did it for her. And then, feeling like she had won a major battle, Tarja realised that there was one more thing she still needed to do.