slumber party

I threw kks a curveball tonight.

The face of bedtime has changed over the past few days, as now the little girl can open a door with a door knob--a significant skill transition. Room mobility is a simple at her mother's parents, they have lever door handles. Nothing in that house can be sacred unless it has a lock. We use cheap white plastic knob covers in our house to control kks traffic, and those are saved for special doors. Now If she wants to leave her room, she has the freedom to do so barring sleep time or discipline.

At bedtime this evening she responded with her typical litany: "I don't want to go to bed." This is not a BBC-style argument "Excuse me, Faaaather, I shan't retire to the boudoir, for I have not reached that level of fatigue. Kindly adjust my shhhhedule in order that I may take in some literature." The Kks litany sounds like it would belong on a Swedish situation comedy. This must be the Northern Great Plains rubbing off on her diction. The kks utterance has a sing-song rhythm. I dig the sing-song stuff. When I lived in Copenhagen I used to love to watch Swedish television, especially the news--I would just get fixated on the rhythm and melody in something simple like the declaration of an occluded front over Goteborg (not that I understood exactly what the broadcaster was saying--my Swedish comprehension is slightly above understanding the Swedish Chef). It was a source of peace in a world in which I could only participate in a limited fashion. I think the Swedes could actually invade the United States and take over if they would merely talk to us. At least I know I would be hypnotized.

Rather that repeat the announcement of bedtime to kks, I brought the dog in. The whole house was surprised, including the chocolate lab. Kks and the dog were going to have a slumber party. The dog looked at me with the look "what in the hell are you doing to me?" He has slowly become used to the idea. The little girl also thinks it's quite special, and bed time suddenly became a desirable activity. We shall see how long this enterprise lasts. Regardless, we have reached a high level on the cuteness scale.