This. This right here. This is why.
Ever notice how, when it comes to delaying bedtime, a determined kid can out-match an exhausted parent (or two) quite easily? No? Not at your house? Well, maybe its only Jacob, then.
Tuesday night he was at his endlessly-stalling-best during Family Bedtime Reading, specifically the part of the ritual after scripture reading, when Jacob picks out one of his books for us all to read. Frequently this results in Green Eggs and Ham, I Can Read With My Eyes Shut, or Horton Hears a Who. But tonight, instead of simply picking a book, he decided to run to his room and bring out an armful, lay them all out on the bed, and invite each of us to indicate our favourite, presumably to help him narrow it down to his final selection.
Exhausted as I was, I just wanted him to pick one already, so we could read it and be done with it. I said again and again, no, this was his book to pick, he could pick whichever he liked, and just pick one please!
I gotta break the narrative here for a second. If you know me, you know that I’ve been married before, and the other guy had, well, sometimes had a bit of a temper. This kind of situation right here, when we’re tired and short of patience and the little one is not very compliant? This is exactly the sort of thing that would set him off.
So subconsciously, I’m already tensing. I don’t even realize that I’m bracing myself, feeling more and more protective, and ready to jump in and intervene if Ryan, like that other guy, should snap and lose his temper. Only at this moment Ryan jumps in and announces, in a voice infused with child-like wonder and enthusiasm, “Jacob, your vote is like…4 votes!”
Even Jacob couldn’t argue with logic like that, and promptly selected the winner.
I picked a winner, too.
<3