Rookie Mistake

So The Wife had a networking function last night, which means I had to take care of The Kid all by my lonesome. It's been a while since I had to do it, and as she gets older, it becomes more and more challenging. In addition to the basics (feeding, cleaning, changing) we now have the added complication of entertaining the wee one for the 3 hours between getting home and bedtime. The simple solution to the entertainment issue is to acquiesce to the cries of "mowie, mowie" followed by "gooins, gooins". For those unable to translate Kid to English, this means "movie, movie" and "penguins, penguins". These are in turn translated as requests to watch Dreamworks' magnum opus "Madagascar".

Madawhoo-ha?

No, not whoo-ha. gascar.

I digress.

I resisted the urge to take the easy road and we watched The Science Channel instead, in a hopefully not in vain attempt to get The Kid as interested in cosmology as I am. It hasn't stuck yet, but it's still early.

We had the usual dinner and a bath, followed by story time and going to bed. Giving a bath solo is always a challenge, but I somehow managed to pull it off without a) letting The Kid spend extended periods of time underwater, and b) not getting completely soaked myself.

You: Where is this mistake of which you speak?
Me: I'm getting to that.

Since The Kid is all about routine (wonder where she got that?), not having half of the parenting team there left her somewhat out-of-sorts when she went to bed. Notice how I didn't say "to sleep". The Kid was in bed at about 7:30, and The Wife arrived home at 9:00 or so. Since The Kid was still more or less still awake, we decided to go on up to her room so Mommy could say goodnight.

Anyone else see where this is going?

Yeah. That went over like a lead balloon. There were tears, crying, lots of hugs, and a steadfast refusal to get back into the bed. We finally just put her into the crib and let her cry it out.

Funny thing, though. As soon as we closed the door to her room, it was as though she had been shot with a tranquilizer dart. Out like a light. Still, I don't think we'll be trying that again.

Just like Alex the Lion in Madagascar, but probably without the Sammy Davis Jr. soundtrack.