no longer asymptomatic of being a toddler

for many months now now i have been experiencing the pride of having a kid who goes to bed early and gently. we read books, brush the chops, wash the paws, bring animal friends upstairs, nurse, and then the kid goes right into the crib without a protest. there are horror stories out there and i've been grateful, feeling like all the sacrifices i've made to instill this healthful schedule, like being stuck inside each night after 5:00, including throughout the summer, have paid off. until last week.

last week the routine unraveled. okay, so the teeth brushing has never been easy, which is why i pawned that one off to anne, but the rest got noticeably impossible and noticeably impossible fast. i tried to put her to bed one night and she insisted that i read her more books, after anne had just read her at least 5 downstairs. i acquiesced, just a little, by speed-reading through rockabye farm and secretly skipping pages, which of course she noticed. after backtracking i got her in the crib and she suddenly needed a glass of water. i got her a glass of water ("drink whole thing in my bed right now!") and then she desperately needed to blow her nose. i tried wiping the imaginary boogers on my sleeve, but she insisted that she get her own toilet paper from the bathroom. all right, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that i was being scammed, but you see i sometimes have problems sorting out reasonable requests from unnecessary parental control. my mother is convinced i'm spoiling her by letting her make too many choices, but i tend to swing in the other direction: the fewer choices and more control, the unhappier and less cooperative the kid. anyway, i digress. as usual. after the boogers, there were seahorses under the bed that needed pillows, and a song that needed to be sung, etc., etc., etc., until eventually i made a run for it.

i decided to have a problem solving chat with the kid the next day, striking when the iron was cold, or, as anne would say, when she was having a downhill moment. actually, it was more of an intervention. when i tried to engage her in a discussion about the aforementioned nighttime annoyances and unacceptability, she told me that she wanted to talk about it LATER, which is the time when she likes to talk about a lot of things.

so the intervention went something like this: adah, we're going to do something different tonight. before we go upstairs, you're going to drink some water and blow your nose. then we're going to read one book, have some milk, and then you are going to get in your crib without screaming or asking to do other things, okay?

yes.

a couple minutes later:

adah, after you have your milk tonight are you going to ask to get up and drink water?

yes.

um, no, you are going right to bed. are you going to ask to blow your nose?

yes.

this went on and on, this sweet-toned defiance that was undoubtedly not caused by a lack of understanding. after intially being appalled, my mom and i finally burst into laughter. but the problem is, sometimes it's hard to find the comicality in all of this intense demandingess.