Adventures in Babysitting: Bedtime (Part II)

After returning from the park, making a fort in the living room, playing outside, having a snack, playing house upstairs, playing mom and daughter dog, a lightening quick round of air hockey, some Nintendo Dance, another snack, a tour of her bedroom (approx. 8x9 ft), a game (that I never did find out how to play because she kept "winning" before I got my turn), a discussion about pink sparkly crayons, and a lovely 5 second dance recital (Irish jig) in the living room... the topic turned to Jeff, my husband. "When is Jeff coming?" This question started at about 4pm and continued until he finally showed up at 9:30pm. So, every 10 minutes I was forced to give an update on his status and every 15 minutes she was disappointed. That was until she thought of giving him a surprise. We brainstormed for a few minutes- hmmm a pie? Well, that might be a lot of work (not to mention that I don't know how to make a pie, much less in someone else's kitchen). Perhaps some cake. Probably not the best alternative. Then she suggested we make costumes. Costumes? What kind? Let's get a book to find ideas. 

So, we paged through a book about Audrey Hepburn. Thanks Audrey, for having the most elaborate and detailed dresses ever made. We were nearing the last page of the book when I decided to repeat my prior announcement, "We cannot make costumes." She confidently replies, "Yes we can, we can sew them." *laughing* There are so many reasons why that won't work, where do I start?? 1. I don't sew 2. She doesn't sew 3. We have no fabric 4. We have no pattern 5. Even if we did, we don't have weeks, we have hours. 6. We still don't sew. 

We abandon the idea as quickly as we came up with it. (So glad) We eat dinner and then begin the 3 hour countdown to Jeff's arrival. The time in between is a blur, but eventually she ends up in her pajamas with her teeth brushed. About half an hour before Jeff comes, she decides she wants to water paint. I didn't think that was the wisest project to begin, but she was dead set on making Jeff a picture. So, the paintings were a success and finally Jeff arrived.  Woohoo! 

So, once she ended up in bed, we said our prayers, recited a Bible verse and read a book. She was quite crafty with the book since I told her we were only reading 1 book. We were 3/4 through the book when she announced she that she didn't like this book and we had to start a new one. Sneaky!! She got almost 2 books out of the deal... I was snowed!

We turned off the light, closed the door and I went back down stairs. Three minutes later I hear some noise and head back upstairs. I open the door and there she is in bed, with a flurry of books around her. She's pretending to sleep. "What are all these books doing on your bed?" "I was sleeping and all these books fell on me." *laughing* She was especially endearing when I would say "No, I think we should...." and she was accepting my "suggestion" because she would say, "Well, that's a pretty good idea." (Tehehe) Ah, kids. 

It took a few more rounds, but she finally fell asleep. I knew she was tired, we had a long day. She had been quite concerned earlier that she might not be able to fall asleep. I, however, was not feeling at all concerned for myself and my own ability to sleep. I was exhausted!