Monday, May 17, 2010

It's always "ten more minutes"

Current evening conversation in the Smith house:

Me: Noah, it's time for bed.  You've got your jammies on, your teeth are brushed, and we read three books.  Time to go night-night.

Noah: Ten more minutes. (Ten Mo' Mint-es)

Me: No, Noah, not ten more minutes.  No more minutes.  Time for bed.

Noah: One more book.  (One Mo' Boo-ak)

Me: No more books, time for bed.

Noah: One more minute! (One Mo' Mint-es)

Me: TIM!  Somehow this has to be all your fault!

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It looks to me like Noah has begun the dreaded stalling.  For a couple of months now I've been giving Noah minute warnings to let him know that a transition is coming up.  "Ten more minutes until nap time." "Five more minutes until we have to get in the car."  "Two more minutes until you have to give the toy to Tommy." etc.  However, this approach seems to be back-firing as now HE is using them on ME.  Our bedtime routine is now a half hour longer than it was a month ago.  It can take up to 20 minutes just to get shoes and coats on and get out the door.  I've begun padding our schedule just so we can make it places on time.  All because the little dictator has learned how to stall.  Pretty soon he'll be asking for water at bedtime, then he'll need an extra kiss and hug and a "new blankie".  I really thought we had a few more months until this affliction hit our house.  

*********

Me: Noah, it's nap time.  Let's go upstairs.

Noah:  No!  Noah singing!  Ten more minutes.

Me:  Sigh.

10 comments:

k said...

What is up with the lips ON the microphone? Ezra "sings" that way too and it makes me cringe because at our house? Holy hell with the germs and slobber soaking into the microphone. Ugh.

Katherine said...

Despite your frustrations, that is SOOOO cool that he says that. He is clever, that Noah. Don't get me wrong, we get a lot of 'no' in our house, too, but it's adorable, right? My facebook friend just gave birth last month and is posting status updates about the woes of spit up. Gawd, so much has changed!!

Anne said...

Hey, singing is SERIOUS BUSINESS. He needs his practice time! (omgcute)

bessie.viola said...

Oh, Sara, I SO feel your pain. EVERYTHING in our house is a big stalling game, too. Every night at approximately 7:50pm Madeline turns into a starving, abandoned child; she begs for every type of food imaginable and grabs her tummy, crying that she's "HUNGRY!" She also likes to beg for "More snuggles!"

(When presented with either the food or the snuggles, she is inevitiably annoyed with us and wants nothing to do with either). So frustrating!

Oh and I LOVE the Noah picture... he's very serious about his singing, I see. Is that microphone attached to Elmo? I think that we have the same one. :)

-R- said...

I'm sure it's probably annoying, but it's also so cute! What a smart kid.

Sara said...

K- The slobber! It disgusts me and yet I don't know how to stop it.

Katherine- My friend is due with her first in a couple of months and keeps calling asking for advice and I'm all "eh, they'll be fine no matter what" which is code for "I have no friggin' idea what I did for x,y, or z...that was MONTHS ago".

Anne- If only he wasn't as tone-deaf as his mother...

B- Yes! We get the "eat! eat!" all the time and there is NO WAY the child could be hungry. I'll add that to his stalling tactics.

R- Thank you :) Most days he's pretty cool (and he knows it, too). Thanks for stopping by!

Michelle said...

What a smart little man! Peanut has taken to negotiating too. We usually tell her, "First diaper change, then fruit snacks." She tries to flip it on us and see if she can away with it.

These kids.

samantha said...

I sit here and chuckle because it's you and not me.

:-)

Rougeneck said...

He's such a cutie...does it really matter?

Rachel said...

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