Common sense

Last night I spent an hour with my daughter playing a Disney Princess memory game. Never before have I seen someone so thrilled to successfully match one Mulan to another Mulan.  Speaking of which, was Mulan really a princess?  I don’t think she was, but I’m not going to nitpick by writing Milton Bradley and contesting their definition of royalty. Mulan should be included simply because she kicked ass.

So the evening was going great and we were having fun matching princesses, but then I had to go and give the kid a whole freaking M&M cookie ice cream sandwich just because she asked for one.  I’m a huge pushover when it comes to sweets simply because I love nothing more than to spread joy in colorful ice cream cookies.

A four year-old should not consume an entire M&M cookie ice cream sandwich about an hour before bedtime.

The kid was impossible to put down last night. Just when I thought I had her settled in, I made the mistake of pushing her GO button with a playful tickle before I left the room.  Before I knew it, she had me in a choke hold as she dangled from my neck as I tried to heave myself off her bed.

Then there was the singing.  For about an hour after lights out, Nathan and I were treated to chorus after chorus of the Zoo Phonics song, Autumn’s favorite of late.  I had to go back into her room several times to ask her to quiet down and was treated to indignant huffs that suggested I was stifling her creative genius.

And throughout it all I could clearly see how the next morning would go because she didn’t get the sleep she needed.  And the morning was pretty bad.  And I didn’t handle it well because I didn’t get the sleep I needed, either.

But tonight went much better. She’s been asleep for over an hour. There was no singing and I’m pretty sure right after I publish this I’m going to take a bath and hit the sack.  All the ice cream sandwiches were gone so that also worked in our favor.

So tomorrow morning will be better.