I am a 38yo wife, mother, friend & sister. I have been married for 17 years, and I have two children: Music (formerly Karate Kid) my 14yo son, and Drama Queen, my 12yo daughter.
Drama Queen doesn't understand why she has to start getting ready for bed so early. "All of my friends don't have to go to bed until 9:00! Why do I have to go to bed so early?" *whine, whine, pout* She has the same bedtime as her friends--9:00, although I try to get her in bed a little earlier without her knowing it. I try. It hasn't happened yet.
Her bedtime routine is fairly simple and straightforward: pick up her stuff in the living room and kitchen, take a bath, pick out clothes for the next day, eat a bedtime snack, read with Mom (about 15-20 minutes, depending on time), and 15 minutes of reading by herself in bed. Karate Kid has the same basic routine, although he usually showers in the morning. His whole goal is to speed through it as quickly as possible so he has more time to read. Drama Queen, on the other hand, can drag that routine out to last all evening. I started her at 7:30 last night. At 9:05 she still had not made it into bed to read by herself.
Her routine, although outlined above, tends to look more like this:
*Go into her room to find something to wear but immediately come out to complain that she has NOTHING to wear. *Go sit on the couch and pet the dog. *Pick up one thing in the living room, carry it into the kitchen, and set it down on the counter. *Turn 3 cartwheels through the room and one handstand against the couch. *Go back into her room and return with a shirt and shorts that even a color-blind person wouldn't choose. *See how far she can walk on her hands. *Pick up one more item and put it where it belongs. *Show me a new cheer she learned from her friends at school. *Pick up the item in the kitchen and take it to her room, thereby discovering her Polly Pockets that are in her floor. *Play with the Polly Pockets until reminded of what she is supposed to be doing. *Pick up one more item but stop to tell me something on the way by. *Put the item in some obscure place where it doesn't belong, ensuring a frantic search for it the next day. *Do another handstand, a bridge, and a round-off. *Take a bath. *One more round of "I have nothing to wear! You buy ugly clothes for me!" *Go into the kitchen to find a snack. *Come find me to complain that "there is nothing to eat." *Stop to pet and kiss any and all dogs she can corner. *Fix a huge plate of whatever snack she chooses, eat a tiny bit, and then leave it in the sink. *Go into the bathroom to brush her teeth but reappear instantly to tell me she dropped her toothbrush in the toilet. *Disappear into her room for more playing. *Finally find an outfit to wear but only after at least 5 minutes of complaining and/or crying. *Show me another new cheer "right now before I forget it." *Snuggle up with me to read, stopping every two paragraphs to tell me something that happened during the day or to ask a question completely unrelated to the story. *Beg for one more page when I tell her I'm stopping at that page. *Ask me a question about boobs/getting boobs/shrinking boobs that are too large/etc. *Go get in bed to read. *Interrupt her brother's reading time with me for no apparent reason other than she isn't in there with us. *Drag one of the dogs to bed with her. *Read a page of her book. *Chase the dog who escaped from her bed. *Read half of a page. *Remember she needs her medicine. *Two more round-offs and a handstand against the loveseat. *Complain that she didn't get any time to read when I tell her "lights out." *Get out of bed to tell her brother good night, resulting in a screaming match because "She's in my room"/"She choked me when she hugged me"/"That is NOT hers!"/or any other valid reason for starting a fight. *Back to bed. *Call out to me each and every time I pass her room no matter how quickly or quietly I pass by. *Finally, finally, FINALLY fall asleep!
Is it any wonder that I need a drink by this time? If she keeps it up, one of two things will happen: she will start getting ready for bed as soon as she gets home from school, or the men in white coats will come get me.
Posted @
11:45 AM ~
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