The Queen of Stalling

Riley's bedtime routine used to be so simple...bath, brush teeth, maybe one book, then put her in her crib. EASY!

Since getting into her big girl bed, she has become quite the staller. I didn't notice it at first but Ben picked up on it and now it is amazing to see how good she is at it.

Our current bedtime routine:
- finish up dinner and make her carry her plate/cup to the sink - Stallling Tactic 1: "momma, where's the sink?" The same place it was yesterday Riley!! let the prayers for MY patience begin (sometimes just in my head but sometimes out loud if I am desperate).

- clean-up time for her toys - I will ask her to pick up books, her response "this one??" Yes, the one that is 5 inches away from you is the one I am talking about. Sometimes she will start singing the clean-up song and be so insipired that she needs to dance around to it instead of picking up toys.

- bath time - right before I put her in the bath "momma, peepee". But Riley, I asked you 2 minutes ago and you didn't need to go then?!

- brushing teeth - we have been working on spitting (Ben is very proud of this) and she feels the need to spit about 10 times during brushing teeth. Needless to say, this takes about 5 minutes to complete. In addition she has also started using this skill of spitting at random times... which make me so proud (insert sarcasm because it is usually very close to my face which I am NOT okay with).

- putting on pajamas and brushing hair - we normally go through a couple pairs of pajama pants before she can decide on the right one. I'm thinking about throwing away all but one pair of pajama pants, so she doesn't have options.

- picking out books to read - no matter how many books I tell her we are going to read she says "2 more books". Yesterday I was even guilty of hiding a long book that I like reading to her but not at bedtime (bc it is too long) and wouldn't you know that she found that book anyway! And it was also a night I promised to read extra books. Typically after we've finished our last book, she'll look up and say "Bible?". How can you turn down reading the Bible to your child?!? Sigh...

- baby Bella - this is a doll that Livy Anne gave to Riley a year ago. Riley is suddenly very concerned with Bella and is currently trying to potty train her (but she seems to have many accidents and poopy diapers). Right before we get into bed, Bella has a poopy diaper that needs changing which includes using a wipe and putting on diaper cream to make her feel "all better".

- POOP - you heard it here first. Somehow the girl has managed to even use poop as a stalling tactic. I have no idea how she does this but when putting on a diaper at night, she says "I'm going poopoo in my diaper" so I summon all my strength and patience and say "big girls go poopoo in the potty, so let's go to the potty". Whereby, she works for 3-4 minutes to push out the smallest poop possible (these things make a pinto bean look big) and then says "all done"!

Wow! After typing all that, I must say that I am impressed with her stalling tactics also.