the art of "delay" (both daughters...)

No baby yet. I have to start all text messages and phone calls this way so I'm doing it here as well because everyone is on high alert for baby2K12. I was due Friday and she's still kicking it. I'm great with it, it's like a staycation because I'm not working, just waiting and using every excuse to rest. Pretty sweet. But waiting for something like, oh, you know, a human life to enter the world via your body is a big thing to wait for. We're really excited though. I love when people say, "When are you due?" ... "Last Friday." It's the best.

So baby 2K12 is delaying her birth, which is fine. But Avery is learning, as Ken so appropriately put it, the art of delay. Our night routine has become quite the, well, routine. Like, are you going to sleep better, really if all your books are put away? Or are you just stalling? We have added saying goodnight to some of our favorite toys, like her toy lizard and her Fraggles, because she will grip them in her hands to tightly that you run the risk of a huge meltdown before bed so we thought a proper goodnight would help her let go. And it does, but now both mom and dad have to kiss them goodnight, not just Avery. The lizard now, due to mom's brilliant idea, has to be put to sleep in his house that we fashioned from a shoebox, and then in what I can only assume is some type of "nesting" I sewed a little mattress pad, two pillows and a blankie for him. I thought it would be a small step towards a doll house, but for a lizard. Now, we have to sing him so sleep followed by more kisses.

10 minutes of delay, check.
Avery: 1 Mom: 0

Next, the Fraggles. I speak of Fraggle Rock folks. She has the 5 fraggles and they have to sleep in the basket by her bed, NEVER in her crib. Like, we did that one night and she screamed, "GGAAGGLE!! DADDY!!" And we ran in there, she was upset that a fraggle was in her crib. Once the fraggle moved to the basket, she immediately fell asleep. (Ridiculous.)

5 more minutes of delay.
Avery: 2 Mom: 0

Then starts the normal reading and singing routine. This is a very special time that I just love. She's really cuddly and will sing with me sometimes. But if I get out a handful of books and I don't read them all, she's not happy. The transition from reading to singing will occasionally involve a slap on my shoulder and a little crying spell. This delays things too but it's cause she's sad. I don't count this, I just learn from my mistakes.

Lastly, I finished teaching this week and have brought home some classroom decor that I made years ago for my first classroom. I painted a adult sized Cat in the Hat. She loved it so we taped it to the back of her door. She'll even say, "cat in the hat." Great, my Dr. Seuss loving heart couldn't be more proud. But when I say goodnight to her after laying her down in her crib, I shut the door and she can see the cat. That reminded her that we didn't kiss him goodnight. So I walk up to the front of the house, chat with Ken for a bit and she starts crying, and then talking. I'm like, "she's just goofing, she's fine." Then it swells, and she starts screaming, "Daaaaddddyy!" Ken goes in, and she goes, "cat in the hat?" I forgot to kiss the cat. Ken picks her up to kiss the cat, and she's hasn't made a peep since. Ken goes, "did you kiss the cat?" I say, "No." Ken's reply, "Well, hon..."

Delayed bedtime even more, 5 minutes
Avery: 3 Mom: 0

She's particular, that little monkey. She likes routine, and I feel that for the first year of her life, all you're trying to establish is routine with sleeping and eating and playing. So now that we loosening the reigns a bit, she's like, "No, we do things this way. You made me like this!!"

Or, and this is a likely reason too...
she's playing us like a fiddle.