All About Art

Including the art of bedtime routines

I have failed as a parent when it comes to bedtime tonight.

trying out Dad’s headphones earlier tonight

Considering we are still stuck inside due to weather conditions, the fact that anybody can either fit into their pants or speak to each other is really quite impressive.

As you can imagine, today was all indoor activities once again here. I did venture out to take out the trash and shovel the walk, but that really doesn’t count as going outside.

So what did we do?

In the morning we played school. This involves her being the teacher - she decided that was 32 years old - and that BW and I were the students. BW got the art assignment and I got the math. We were told to sit and ask questions, but not too many questions. Also, don’t get out of your seat until asked.

BW and I have about a 10 minute window before we all go “okay, that’s it - aaannnddd we’re done”.

We made it to recess. I really dislike pretending, but it comes with the job.

Throughout the day there was drawing and singing and laughing at Mr. Beast videos.

Later, she came downstairs and wanted to listen to the headphones I was listening to and then she wanted to sit in the chair I was sitting in and then she told me to leave the room..

I’m okay with this because if I want to encourage one thing, it’s the love of art - especially if the art also includes chocolate:

Today she made an I love chocolate painting. Because if this week proves anything, it’s the love of chocolate around here.

name redacted because it’s the internet and we have rules.

of course, these I find all around the house:

and lastly, tonight I wandered into her room and instead of putting on her PJ’s as asked - she was designing a tattoo parlor for us to all get tattoos in the morning:

You will note that she’s already tried a test tattoo on her right wrist. When I asked her about it she said “It’s okay - it’s washable marker - it comes off”.

Well…yes - but no.

Anyway, this is where I screwed up. Because nobody has left the house in days and because we’ve all had too much screen time, I figured that bedtime can be a little looser than usual and she can continue setting up the tattoos or whatever - and bed will happen when it does. We’ve got another 5 days of no school here (please send help) so I figured staying up late was no big deal.

I was wrong.

I messed up on the timing and by then she was so tired that the PJ’s were a struggle to get on and the tears flowed a lot more than the actual toothpaste that saw her teeth tonight - that’s for sure.

With a half-baked tooth brushing kind of done, I managed to get her into bed while she kept on screaming “I’m too tired!” over and over again.

We were just talking at dinner how she’s been really really awesome after 5 days inside straight, and there’s been no major upsets. Until tonight. Tonight there was screaming.

But every day the ability to handle her emotions is getting a bit better and we don’t experience full on meltdowns like we used to not too long ago. And even tonight, she was just cranky because she was tired and cranky - just like her old man gets, so we’re not holding this against her.

Stay tuned because tomorrow I get to play “Tattoo Parlor”.

Nothing says New Year’s Eve like getting an ill-advised tattoo on the last day of the year.

Still cooped up,

TH and Co.