Who's the whiney bitch? No really....which one of us is the wb?

I talked to a friend last night who was complaining of taking care of someone else's two year old.

"I hate to break it to you," she said, "but almost-three year-olds are a pain in the ass. You'll see." She went on to tell how the offending child would grunt out a non-word complaint when she didn't get her way. (As in, "let me wipe your face, Susie". Susie: "Unngh!") "I hate that," my friend said. "It's so annoying. Maybe I've blocked it out, but I don't remember my daughter doing that."

"Anonybabe does that," I told her.

"She does?"

Yeah. She does. I thought all babies did. I mean, you teach them not to, but how's a baby who doesn't have words going to use their words?

So despite the fact that this friend is kind of a mommy-dearest type with her child, this conversation got me all panicky about my parenting skills again. I'm kind of passive with Anonybabe, because, well, it works for me. I'm kind of a passive person. I don't tell her "no" as much as I ignore the bad and tell her "yes, yes, YES!" to the positive. It's the way I would want to be taught what to do and what not to do, but that doesn't mean it works.

This "teacher" mantle I have to take on doesn't sit well on me. I live in fear that I'm unconsciously raising Anonybabe to be a spoiled brat. I mean, my dad was extremely spoiled, and it showed when he was an adult. It seemed to rub off on his kids at least a little. My brother and sister and I all had the "I don't know why you don't think the rules apply to you" speech given to us by non-parents at some point in our childhoods. But I was extremely sensitive and felt squelched as a child. I really yearned for someone to pay close attention to me and encourage me when I was a kid, so I try to offer that to Anonyhon. She already shows a tendency to not try something if she thinks she'll get it wrong.

*Sigh* I'm doing the best I can, here. I'm trying all I know to do. If my best guess ends up crippling Anonybabe with an annoying personality...I guess then I'll really feel qualified to call myself a mother.