On Sunday night, Reid fell asleep at 7:15. I was very happy and Ken and I spent nearly two hours together awake. Last night, though, we took Reid up in anticipation of lights out at 7:15 and it was at least 8:10 when she fell asleep. This morning she awoke at 5:00 and, though I got her to stay in bed until 5:30, she never went back to sleep. Finally we got up and made oatmeal for us to eat, lunch for Daddy to take to the office (with three packages of rockets contributed by Reid but exchanged for chocolate bars by Mama who learned after sending them that they aren’t a favourite) and lunch for Mama to take to the office and, finally casserole for supper tonight. Reid even set the table for supper. We were quick as wink getting ready for work and daycare respectively and were out the door on time. As I buckled the last part of her car seat, Reid said she needed to go to the potty. I indulged in a silent scream (like that famous painting) and rushed her in to the bathroom where she needed a book read.
I started with the book I wanted to read:
* Sparkly Witch and Wizard head shake
* Mickeys Week no Mickey
* On the Day You Were Born no born
* Olivias Opposites head shake
* Peak a Who? no Peak a who (and no inflection)
* But not the Hippopotamus head shake as soon as I picked the book up
* Does a Kangaroo have a mother, too? no “dangaroo”
* Olivia Counts head shake
* In the City: What is that Noise Yes!
* Ou est maman? no maman (good accent)
* Avec mon papa no papa (again, good French)
* Joshua by the Sea – Yes
* Je Veux un kangourou Success again
* “Cow book, Mama” – I love animals Yes.
I didnt have time to offer her Over in the Meadow but I bet she would have said “yes” to this final book.
I should say that Reid refused some of her favourites and even some that she insists I read even though they are from the top of my favourites list.
By the time we’d emptied the potty, Ken had given up sitting in the car and had come back in. At least I could report that it hadn’t been a false alarm.
When she was safely back in the car, I put all of our books back on the shelf and left the library books for just a couple more days of opportunity before theyre due. It’s obvious that we had too many books in the bathroom, eh? My defence is that Reid sometimes wants to grow roots on the potty and I can only read some books so often. (And, yes, we read to her in rooms other than the bathroom so that’s not why she wanted to stay.) Also, I’d brought the library books in so that we could look at them a couple more times.
In the end, Ken was late for work but there is a casserole in the fridge waiting to be cooked and Reid didn’t “go” in her chicken pants.