Stalling tactics

Aeron and Claire have reached the phase where they will do just about anything they can think of to stall at bedtime. This past Thanksgiving weekend, we had house guests, a couple of folks my girls are very fond of. Bedtime, thus, became a real challenge.

The girls were down, and the grownups were sitting downstairs, enjoying a well-deserved glass of wine. Rare, stimulating conversation having nothing to do with child-rearing was being had by the fire, when Claire calls out from her room. Due to architecture, it's quite easy to hold a conversation between the girls' room and the living room.

"Mom! I have to tell you something"

"What, Clairezie?"

"Mom! I'm looking at this book, and these bugs are really cool! I wanna show you!"

"Show me in the morning, Clairezie."

There is a pause as she considers this. "Okay. Nite Mom!"

Our guests grin at the exchange, then we again start talking about grown-up things. (I used more polysyllabic words this past weekend than I have in years...)

20 minutes later, I see movement out of the corner of my eye, near the stairs. I'm pretty sure I know who's lurking.

"What are you doing, little girl?" Claire shuffles over to the sofa, insect book in hand, trying to look worried, yet, a little smirk keeps appearing on her face. Like she's out-smarted Mama.

"Mom. This book... look, see this bug?" pointing to the picture of a potato bug, eyes wide.

"Yeah."

"It's freaking me out!"