Disclaimer: I don't own Good Luck Charlie
"I wanna hol' the baby," Charlie said.
"In a minute honey," Amy told her.
Charlie waited for a few minutes then repeated, "I wanna hol' the baby."
"Not right now Charlie," Amy said, "I'm feeding him."
"YOU SAID IN A MINUTE," Charlie yelled, "You pwomise in a minute"
"Well honey you just have to be a little patient," Amy said, "The baby has to eat and be burped and then you can hold him."
At this point Charlie was really mad and threw a toy across the room nearly landing on Toby.
Amy sighed. It was only 8 o'clock in the morning and she already had to deal with Charlie's misbehavior. It was time to get a little bit tough. She carefully placed Toby in the basinet then grabbed Charlie up.
"CHARLOTTE MIA DUNCAN," she scolded, "It is NOT okay for you to throw things just because you didn't get your way. You need to be a big girl now!"
With that she picked Charlie up and deposited her into her room.
"NOW YOU STAY HERE AND THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU DID YOUNG LADY," Amy said.
She went out, fed Toby and made breakfast for Charlie. She poured some cereal into the bowl.
"Charlie," Amy said, "Do you understand why you were in your room?"
"No," Charlie said.
"You were in your room because you threw your toys. You could have hurt Toby and that is NOT okay."
Charlie was mad when she saw her mom had poured cereal.
"YOU SAID YOU WOULD MAKE ME PANCAKES," Charlie yelled.
"Don't yell Charlie and I'm sorry but the baby kept me up all night."
Charlie threw her cereal on the floor. Amy was tired and irritable. She picked Charlie up and gave her a few swats on her jean covered pants.
"We do not (swat) throw food. That is (swat) unacceptable. We (swat) eat food."
Charlie cried not because the spanking hurt. She hardly felt it through her jeans but she felt like she wasn't important anymore. Mommy always seemed too busy for her. She was always feeding Toby or holding Toby or playing with Toby. Well Charlie was her kid too. She stormed into her room and slammed the door. That woke Toby up.
The day continued like that. Finally Bob got home from work.
"You look annoyed," he told Amy.
"Charlie has been a piece of work today. She was in time out 8 times today and even had to be spanked twice today."
"What did she do," Bob asked.
"She threw a toy because I wouldn't let her hold the baby when she wanted. Then she threw her cereal on the floor slammed her door had a temper tantrum and woke the baby ran away when we were outside, flooded the toilet-"
"Honey can I just point one thing out? You're expecting adult behavior from a child. Charlie is obviously feeling left out."
"Well what am I supposed to do Bob? Toby can't take care of himself and all I want is for Charlie to be a little patient and understanding."
"How much attention have you been giving to Charlie lately?"
Amy sighed.
"Not much," Amy said, "It's just that I'm tired. The baby is 3 weeks old and he keeps me up all night. I feel overwhelmed and maybe I've been taking that out on Charlie without meaning to."
"How about if I take care of Toby tonight," Bob suggested, "to give you some rest."
"Thanks. I think I need to go talk to Charlie," Amy said.
Charlie was in her room sulking when Amy came in.
"Charlie," Amy said, "Honey mommy needs to talk to you. Mommy understands she's been really grumpy lately. It's not fair to you and I'm sorry."
"That's okay mommy," Charlie said, "I just sad that you don't love me anymore"
Amy picked her up and wrapped her arms around her.
"Sweetie I do love you," Amy said, "I just have been really tired lately. But that's not because of you it's because of me and I need to apologize for that."
"So why you get mad at me," Charlie asked.
"Well because I expect you to act like a big girl," Amy said, "But sometimes I forget you're still a little girl. I know you want to do a lot of things that you can't do so much but you also want to be mommy and daddy's little girl. Tell you what. Tomorrow daddy can watch the baby and we could have a mommy and Charlie day."
"YAY! I love mommy and Charlie days," Charlie said