Sunday, June 1, 2008

And the Truth Shall be Spoken out of the Mouths of Babes

So this weekend I promised my niece Taylor that we could have a slumber party. She's 3. She has been wanting to sleep over at my house for a couple of weeks but I haven't had a free Friday night until this last Friday. She was so excited! Or so she told me. She called me on Friday and told me that she was all ready to go and that we were going to have so much fun. I talked to her mom and she told me that she had already packed her bag and was just sitting on her bed waiting for me to come and get her. I was really excited to spend some one on one time with her and was totally willing to spoil her rotten by letting her do whatever she wanted! I picked her up and after she showed me her new Disney Princess suitcase we were off! I asked her what she wanted to do and she said, "Um, let's go to your house and pop popcorn and watch a movie." I asked her what she wanted for dinner, or if she wanted to go somewhere for dinner and she said, "Um, let's just go to your house and pop popcorn and watch a movie." Sigh......okay. So we go to my house and after looking around a bit she gets into her suitcase and pulls out the bag of microwave popcorn that she brought with her, yes she actually brought some with her just in case I didn't have any. I guess we really were just going to pop popcorn and watch a movie. So out of all the super cool Disney movies that I own she picks out Sleeping Beauty, which is a good show but let's face it, it's a little on the boring side and doesn't even come close to being as good as say, Little Mermaid. So we watch Sleeping Beauty and she has to remind me on one occasion that if I don't open my eyes I will miss the movie. Finally the movie ends and I ask her what she wants to do next. Can you guess what she said? Watch another movie. I guess I should disclaim that my siblings hardly ever let their children watch tv so when they get the opportunity to do so they want to take full advantage. I convince her to walk to the store to get a slurpee before we start another movie. Can you all just tell how great of a mother I'm going to be? Popcorn and slurpees for dinner and nothing but movie watching all night long. So we eat the slurpees and I can really tell that she's in sugar overload mode because the fact that her tongue is red is the funniest thing she's ever seen in her life! I tell her that we should put on our pajamas and get ready for bed before we watch another movie. Her second movie selection of the night is Pete's Dragon. About 1/3 of the way into it I notice that it's 10 pm and I should probably be putting her to bed. I tell her it's time to go to bed and she bursts into tears and says that she doesn't want to sleep over and that she wants to go home. I called her mom and let her talk to her for a minute, she reiterates the fact that she doesn't want to sleep over and she wants to go home so her mom and I decide that I should probably drive her home. On the way there she happily tells me that she didn't really want to sleep over, she just wanted to come to my house to watch tv.......great, I was suckered by a 3 year old! So I guess when I told her we could do anything she wanted to do I I really didn't mean anything she wanted to do, I really meant anything she wanted to do that sounded fun to me because I spent the whole night trying to convince her to do something different than what she wanted. Sigh. Oh well, lesson learned. Do not have children because they will walk all over you. Okay, so maybe that wasn't the lesson of the evening but it was just a little depressing that I couldn't even handle taking care of a 3 year old for more than 12 hours.....I guess I'll stick to what I'm good at.......and as soon as I figure out what that is I'll let you know!

8 comments:

Cade said...

You'll get your wish of a sleep over at the Bryant Shin Dig in two weeks.

AD said...

Ha! What insight that you were trying to convince her what she wanted to do. Just know that even the best moms fall into that. We always have expectations, say at Disneyland or on a summer day, and sometimes kids (not just Taylor) just have their own plans. What a nice auntie you are. Lucky Taylor. She will never forget her movie night at your house, slurpees and all!

GreenPhoenix said...

Gotta watch those kids: they can be angelically devious. My teenage brothers are coming here tomorrow. We'll see if they really want to help me move or if they're just in it for the vacation.

Camille said...

that's hilarious. I love that your that kind of Aunt. Just like your mom. She was always the most fun aunt and I always think of her when I want to do stuff with my neices and nephews. I'm sure your sista loved you for getting her all sugared up.

Wish you lived closer. Mason loves the slurpees and I love sharing him with other people :)

. said...

How funny! "Do not have children because they will walk all over you." Uh, where were you 14 years ago? That would have been some gooood advice because that's EXACTLY what happens at my house!

Our Family said...

Um, you mean slurpees and popcorn isn't an acceptable dinner?

oops.

:) LOVED this Kandis! Taylor WILL always remember this and you're the cutest Aunt ever for having a sleepover! Mikele and Elise STILL remember sleeping at my house when they were little. After I had my own kids my awesome Aunt skills severly diminished. Poor nieces and nephews.

Erika Bassett said...

You're the #1 aunt! Afterall, she got what she wanted right?! You did your job as an aunt and spoiled her rotten by letting her get what she wanted. Even if it did mean suckering you into it! But don't think she can pull that on you every time! Although you don't want to underestimate the power of the little people...remember...you're bigger than they are! =0)

Liz, in New York said...

This sounds exactly like an episode out of the life of Liz and Madison, circa 1998. I tried very hard to be highly entertaining and ended up sleeping through more than a fair share of princess movies (the highlight of which was when Madison turned into Ursula and screamed at me to "keep singing!") The good news is, now that she's 13, she has nothing but absolutely fantastic memories of me (at least that's how I see it) and I have a total treasure trove of little girl movie knowledge.

Somehow this stuff comes in handy with your own kids, I'm sure. In the mean time, the good news about aunt-neice bonding is that when they melt down, you always can send them back home...I don't think that's an option when they're your own!