It is midnight. I've come home from working at the hospital. Eleanor is still awake, so I talk to her and hold her for a few minutes and then send her back to bed. I sit down at the dining room table to work on the backlog of homework I have due on Monday for an upcoming summer short course. Ele comes back into the dining room..."Daddy, I'm not tired. Can I sit here?" She is referring to a once-tried method of compliance I used on a past sleepless night. Because she kept getting out of bed, I had her sit in the middle of the floor while I worked on my laptop. She had to be quiet and be still until she was ready to go back to bed and back to sleep. Tonight, she was just using the ploy as a stay-awake tactic. "No, Ele... go back to bed." "Oh, alright!" she pouted. Minutes later, she's back with a new strategy: "I forgot to give you kisses." Come on! What is Daddy supposed to do? "Ok, give me kisses and go back to your bed." *smooch* "Daddy, I'm not tired." Me: "Baby, I'm sorry you're not tired... but you'll be in trouble if you get out of bed again. You don't have to go to sleep yet, but you have to stay in your bed." Minutes pass then...."Daddy..."
In exasperation, I sharply tell her, "Eleanor Layne, you are going to get a spanking if you can't obey. Get back in your bed!"
She hands me a balloon creature she got at the mall earlier tonight, "This is for you, Daddy. It is for happy Father's Day. Good night."
With that, she turns and goes back to bed. I just checked... she's asleep. Sheesh.
-dormi bene
jeff
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