Impromptu Parenting Tricks

This morning got off on the wrong foot. Or, for a slightly less wacky metaphor, the tall people in the house woke up on the wrong side of the bed.

Normally, the Huntlings like to get up early on the weekends. Yes, on the days when we could all sleep in...they don't. This weekend, however, they slept until 8 am both days. Woo hoo!

Because they're little and not so coordinated, when they open their door they make an amazing amount of noise just turning the doorknob. So I always wake up before they make it to our room (Did I mention this is a small house? Hmmm...I'd say it's 700 square feet, tops. So everything is audible pretty much everywhere else in chez Anthro.)

Anthropapa is a deeper sleeper than I, and seems to need more sleep. So, when Napoleona came in this morning and said "Good morning, Papa!" in her chirpy little voice, and pounced on him, she scared the bejeezus out of him.

This made Papa a little cranky. For the entire day.

At lunchtime we were discussing the annual pumpkin carving extravaganza. We have three little pumpkins and one big one. The big one's mine, the two kids each have one, and the other's up for grabs. I told the kids that I thought it would be better to do one each day so that we don't get overwhelmed.

Calling on all of my NVC powers, I asked them if they agreed to this plan. Napoleona, her usual agreeable self, said yes right away. SillyBilly, his usual too clever self, said yes but only if he got to go first. Napoleona then no longer agreed with the plan.

Then Anthropapa piped up with this brilliant plan: Whoever falls asleep the most quietly and sleeps the longest at naptime can go first!

That Anthropapa, he's a sneaky one. Resolve our conflict and get some quiet time too.

Did the kids take a long nap?

No. No nap AT ALL.

I foolishly deviated from our normal nap routine, thinking that Papa's challenge would encourage them. Not.

So nobody carved any pumpkins today. After "naptime," the kids were being particularly wacky, so to avoid Papa's head from exploding with annoyance, the kids and I did some other crafts. Which I'll have to show off to you later, since Blogger is evidently still having problems with image uploading.