Strawberries Will Never Taste The Same

I'm convinced my children have secretly devised a plan to see how much stalling Mom will actually tolerate before going to bed. I know it's hard when they are babies . . . oh how I remember rocking Kadin until he was sound asleep then the minute his little head hit the crib sheet - WAHHH!!! Then you start all over again. There were some nights I would be in there for over an hour doing that routine.

But now . . . . oh boy . . . now not only are there two of them, but they can talk too. Yup, they can talk and come up with the master plan to delay bedtime as much as possible. Don't worry though . . . I'm on to them . . . I just need to figure out how to wear them down.

So, tonight they put their master plan into action. Kadin was unusually grumpy and winy . . . I'm sure because he was over-tired since today was a school day. Although he would never admit to being tired . . . he's never tired if you ask him. So Kadin starts doing his part and begins to throw a mini-fit about not being able to do a somersault. Now, here's where I'm a bit smarter than those two little schemers . . . I know this little game all to well. Kadin refuses to continue with our bedtime ritual because he cannot do a somersault. Gasp!! I know, I think I would throw a fit if I couldn't do a somersault either . . . . oh wait . . . I can't anymore. Pardon me while I throw my fit . . . .


Ok - much better. So there you have Delay Tactic #1 - Throw a fit about something I know I can do (and Mom knows I can do) and refuse to continue with anything until I can somehow manage to complete this "impossible" task.

Now Miss Bella took the spotlight. You see . . . she's been taking good notes in her three short years of life and let me tell you she's learned from the master. So she waited until it was time to read our books to pull out her big guns. The kids each picked out two books . . . seems fair right? Well apparently my fatal error was assuming that I could start with Kadin's book first - I mean what was I thinking??!!! So she proceeded to pout during his book and then the true genius of her plan emerged . . . when it was time for her book - she asked six-thousand questions about each page. It was clearly a veteran move for such a rookie - Kadin had to be proud.

Delay Tactic #2 - Ask as many questions as possible about each page in my book. Even go so far as to talk over Mom when she's trying to read so she has to keep stopping.

By this time I kept looking at the clock and thought about all the stuff I still had to do around the house . . . the kitchen was still a mess from dinner, the plants needed to be watered outside . . . and bedtime seemed to loom somewhere in the way distant future.

I had finally gotten through the books and I even got Kadin tucked in bed. Phew, I had one more kid to go and I was home free. Bella is by far the harder child to put to bed. She is in that age where she has ritual things we have to do before she will go to sleep. For her it is getting a final drink, putting on her chap stick and then I have to sing three songs to her (in this order) Silent Night, Rock-a-Bye Baby, and You Are My Sunshine. Then we say her prayer and we are done. Usually . . .

Delay Tactic #3 - Forget how to use my chap stick even though I use it every single night.

Oooh . . . Bella was on tonight. I was beginning to think that perhaps she had overtaken Kadin in the originality field, but I wasn't disappointed when Kadin pulled out one last show . . .

As I was singing to Bella I heard Kadin calling for me. Big shocker, I know . . . so he told me that when I was done singing he wanted me to come in his room . . .

Delay Tactic #4 - Totally make up something "cool" that I can do that Mom just has to see right now . . . like "look at how straight I can make my blanket all by myself."

As I watered the flowers outside of the kids' windows, I swear I saw them meet in the hallway and give each other a high-five. Delay Bedtime Mission - COMPLETE.


I realize you are probably scratching your heads about the title of this post. I will leave you with a clever quote from Kadin as he ate his breakfast this morning . . .

"Hey . . . this strawberry looks just like Mom's privates!"