I AM the Entertainment
Sorry kid, but this is the best it gets.
Today is Tuesday
Want to know what happens on Tuesdays around here? Not much.
Today was no exception apart for the fact that she had a haircut appointment after school to break up the monotony a bit. Also, when she goes to the hairdresser she gets to have a lollipop while in the chair to distract her from scissors and itchy hair.
Hey, it works.
The haircut was uneventful other than the fact that after she finished, her stylist gave her a going away present of a Ring Pop on the way out the door. Of course, the child asked if she could have the much coveted Ring Pop?
“Sure, I told her. Mommy’s not home, just don’t tell her when we get home”(she told her)
In the car on the way home my freshly shorn friend in the back seat with the sugar high asked if she could watch “shows” when she got home. (For those that don’t speak our language, “shows” are movies/videos on YouTube Kids. )
I said no. I told her she’s on her own for entertainment, and for a small amount of time when we got home she did just that - entertain herself. But, like all things here what becomes an absent-minded thing I do somehow while trying to fold laundry at the same time - becomes a game - and tonight was no different.
Tonight, we played hide and seek with her favorite stuffed animal stuffed into a pencil case. I have no idea why or how poor Don got stuffed in there, but he did.
“Don”, BTW is her favorite stuffed animal. A quick search of the archives shows I have written about him at least once. Here’s one:
What started as her and I just being silly with each other somehow becomes a game with complicated rules that include that the hiding must not be too tricky or injure the dog in any way.
And instead of hiding and closing your eyes when you count while the other person is hiding poor Don - you have to put a towel on your head and call it the Towel of Shame while you stand in the middle of the kitchen.
So, ya. We played hide and seek with Don stuffed in a pencil case all while having a qustionably clean tea towel on my head.
But that’s not all. She came upstairs later with a space ship made out of magnetic tiles and once again - before I know it we’ve got a full on game going on where I am the stormtrooper while holding a white plastic fork and she is “Mr Clear”, because she’s holding a clear plastic spoon.
The trivets on the table are the planets. Mars, the Earth, Moon and Sun were all represented and I am happy to report that we’ve travelled the galaxy and back with nothing but a full imagination and some plastic cutlery.
She then went upstairs and had a shower/bath where she runs the water and fills up the tub at the same time and while there heard the toilet still running because - like the sink - it’s another bathroom item that needs some TLC because she now lives in the house and stuff is mysteriously getting broken.
Surely, it’s time for bed - no? OH NO.
Say hello to snack time. After some negotiation I managed to get her to agree to a mandarin orange. But again - I am to blame for this - We had to get Mr. Fork and Spoon out again and play a silly game where they are the chief and constable of the local police and they have to solve the crime of the orange slices that keep disappearing.
She eats this stuff all up (literally) and with wide eyes asks me if it’s her turn to eat another orange slice as the plot, as it were - progresses. Yes. PLEASSE eat the orange slices so we can go to bed! That is the storyline - you eat oranges and gotto bed!
Next: teeth and bed. But not so fast - remember when I allowed her to have not one but TWO lollipops back to back? This was a poor parenting choice on my part as she was well, wired for sound.
She came down and watched me on the computer for a bit and asked me how I can type so fast and if I am writing AI ? I replied no, and then we attempted the bed time thing one more time.
As I was tucking her in she asked for a story.
“But, tell me a real story. Not a story about a girl like me that doesn’t go to bed”
Little does she know that she is the story . Every Day.
Me? I’m just the entertainment.
Sweet Dreams,
TH and Co.