Vendredi V - Stay Awake, Don't Rest Your Head Edition

Fresh off another night of cat herding getting the kids to bed (with bonus craziness after The Boy's kindergarten-palooza concert last night), I'm struck again by how much my kids hate going to bed.

Now me? I love my bed. Although, to be fair, I do go there somewhat reluctantly when there's a book to be read (which is pretty much always), so I suppose I can see where they're coming from a bit. But I will say that I do not protest or whine or complain or beg for one more thing (unlike some other people I know). If I did, I could learn from the pros:

Top 5 Excuses My Children Have For Not Going to Sleep:

1. "But I don't have Mom Teddy/Hammie the Hamster/Vicks for my nose/my lullabies/my snuggle/ice in my water!" (Yeah, I'll admit I go get these things, as these are fairly painless compared to the intricate ritual we used to have to go through with The Girl when she was three which involved Big-Tuck-Small-Tuck-Big-Kiss-Small-Kiss-Big-Hug-Small-Kiss-Kiss-All-the-Teddies-in-Turn-Take-Imaginary-Pictures-of-Everyone.)

2. "But my legs hurt...I need a hot water bottle!" (This one gets me too. I used to get terrible growing pains - no surprise for a girl whose nickname was "Wookie Girl" in high school - so there's a lot of sympathy.)

3. "But I just have to finish this chapter!" (Oooo, she *knows* my weakness. Awash in fond memories of "one last chapter" past, I mumble something about "turn off the light when you're done" and leave her in peace. This weakness does not extend to "finish this level" or "finish this part of my drawing," so until The Boy learns how to read, it's Enforcer Mom for him.)

4. "But it's still light outside!" (Much as I love the longer days of late, they wreak havoc on bedtime. Winter darkness = awesome, especially when kids can't tell time, as you can have 'em in bed by 7:30 if they need it and they're none the wiser. With light blasting through those blinds, I have to come up with explanations about how Mr. Sun likes the warmer weather and is also reluctant to go to bed.)

5.  "But, Dad, he hasn't even heard about Clayface yet!" (This was the best one ever, delivered in a wail by The Boy when we tried to shut down a sleepover chit chat with a little boy whose parents keep him away from superhero stuff and who is, as a result, rabid to hear about every single detail of Lego Batman from our son.)