Defiance ... or Death Wish

Those who know Mim well know that she does not like to sleep. Heaven forbid that she should actually miss out on something!

Last week (Monday night) I put her down to bed just after 8pm. She ranted and raved and talked about hating the spookies under the bed (thanks Caitlin!) and generally created a big furore. Michael escaped this by heading downstairs to the computer leaving me to deal with the overwrought child. I spent 10 minutes telling her that spookies don't exist (didn't work), so I finally told her that the spookies only lived in the Artic because they only ate ice. I thought this was a master stroke - could you get anywhere further away from Australia?!

But no, the lip started trembling and then "But I like ice skating! Waaaaaaaaa". This was one battle that I was not destined to win.

Between 8.30-9.30pm, Mim kept crying in her room, or coming to the door or into the hallway crying out "I can't sleep alone!", " I scared of the spookies!", "I want my Daddy!", "I want to sleep in MummyDaddy bed!"

By 9.30, I was sick of it. "Go to BED, Jemima!" I called from the lounge room.

She stood in the hallway and yelled "NO WAY!"

Well, I was down the hallway quick as a flash, but she was even quicker ... jumping into bed with an expression that said "Oh, shit, I think I went too far on that one". She got a quick smack on the derriere and a "go to sleep now!" through gritted teeth. She waited 'til I'd left the room before wailing, but was asleep within 5 minutes. As I walked back to the lounge, Michael was at the bottom of the stairs grinning.