I tired!

This is my daughter's newest phrase when I ask her to do something, like clean up her toys or eat the chicken on her plate: "I tired!" she will say and cover her eyes with her hands. Another possibility may be "No, too hard, mama do it!" Needless to say, she's been familiarizing herself with the time-out chair.

Which leads us to bedtime, when Lara will make it clear to us that she would like to go "nigh-nigh on da couch, mama! Not in Lara's bed, no!" She took a few impressive steps in her cognitive development this week by learning how to make excuses to stay out of bed. Let's see, we have to go potty. Um, we need a tissue for our nose. Oh, and let's not forget that our paci is all of a sudden "ucky" and "mama, wash it! wash it!"

Oh, what to do, I wonder? I prep myself by chanting tough love, tough love over and over, while I stare at a little forlorn looking girl with tears streaming down her face who is gagging from such terrible crying. I cannot ignore this, but when the clock strikes 8pm, mama off duty! Too hard! I tired! So I lovingly, and soothingly tell Miss Lara, Princess of my Kingdom, that...if she gets out of bed one more time, I am taking away her paci and her blanket!!! It is bedtime and she IS tired and she WILL go to bed and she WILL NOT get out of bed one more time, and this mama ain't takin' no mo' excuses! And, then , honey-dearest, when you wake up in the morning, you can come and get me and we will have your favorite breakfast tomorrow...a big bowl of oatmeal. I love you. Goodnight

Lara stays in bed and falls asleep after just a few more moments of gentle crying, and I applaud myself on a job well done.

And tomorrow, at 7:45pm, we will do it all over again.