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Scenes

Timeline of Last Evening

October 26, 2010 by sue campbell

7:00pm Storytime begins.  Nora lays playing with a small flashlight while I read the Flopsy Bunnies.

7:05pm Nora claims she is tired and wants me to stop reading.  I turn out the light and we lay in bed while she plays with the flashlight and is repeatedly warned against kicking her sick daddy.

7:25pm Nora asks to move to her bedroom.  We stop to go potty.  I begin to hiccup.

7:30pm Nora and I lay in her bed.  She mimics my every hiccup.  I use hiccups as an excuse to leave her bed.

7:35pm I decide cereal is the perfect hiccup cure and eat a very small bowl. Hiccups are still heard from Nora’s bedroom.

8:00pm I am in bed reading tweets and all is quiet from Nora’s room.  I can hardly believe my good fortune that she is asleep by eight.

8:02pm Nora bellers from her bedroom, “Mommy or Daddy!”

8:03pm Nora is wide awake and demanding a snuggle.  I lay with her for a few minutes, then make an excuse that Hoover needs to be let outside.

8:15pm Nora bellers down the hall again.  I walk halfway down the hall and use my sternest voice to call, “Nora, go to sleep.”  To my amazement, this works.

8:30pm I’m pretty sure this is when I fell asleep.

10:30pm Hoover wakes me up to let him outside.

1:30am Nora calls out from her bedroom.  I drag myself to her bed.  She winds herself around me and seems to fall back to sleep.

1:32am Nora sleep talks, “Mommy, all the bears died.”

“Go to sleep,” I whisper.

“Mommy, all the bears died.”

“How?”

“They just died, so don’t worry about it.”

 1:35 I drift off to sleep, wondering what happened to the bears.

Filed Under: Scenes Tagged With: bears, bedtime, hiccups, storytime

Bargaining

August 9, 2010 by sue campbell

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

BEN The father

NORA The toddler

SCENE   Nora’s bedroom.  Dusk.

BEN   Nora, I’m going to give you two choices, you can lay back and close your eyes and try to go to sleep and I’ll send mom in to check on you in ten minutes or you can be noisy and I won’t bother having mom check on you.  Which would you like?

NORA   [Holding index finger to her lips.]  Mmmmmmmm.  Mmmmmm.  Mmmmm. Mmmmmm.  Mmmmmm.  Mmmmmm.  Mmmmmmmm.  Mmmmmm.  Mmm.

BEN    Nora, which do you want?

NORA    Mmmmmm.  I need a minute to think about it.  Mmmmm.  Mmmmmmmm.  Mmmm.  Mmmmmm.  Mmmmmmmmm.  I want mommy in five minutes.

[Fade out]

Filed Under: Scenes Tagged With: bedtime, negotiations

Driver’s Test

June 18, 2010 by sue campbell

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

BEN The father

NORA The toddler

SCENE   In the car. BEN fastens NORA into her carseat.

NORA  Daddy, I want to drive home.

BEN  I’ll tell you what, I’ll give you a driver’s test, and if you get all the answers right, you can drive home.  Ready?

NORA  Yes.

BEN   What’s the speed limit on the freeway?

NORA   You push the pedal!

BEN   Four cars arrive at a four-way stop at exactly the same time.  Who gets to go first?

NORA   Daddy!

BEN   How old do you have to be to drive a car?

NORA Three.

BEN  I think I better drive home, kiddo.

[Fade out]

Filed Under: Scenes Tagged With: driver's test

Chicken Cheeks

May 21, 2010 by sue campbell

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

SUE The mother

BEN The father

NORA The toddler

SCENE   In the car. NORA sits in her car seat, holding a nearly dried up marker.  BEN and SUE are chatting as BEN drives.  NORA catches their attention.

NORA   I’m drawing a chicken on my cheek.  I’m drawing Sally Turtle.

SUE [turning around in seat]   Nora, you can’t draw on your face.  I have to take the marker away. [Pries marker out of NORA’s hand.]

NORA   No!  I need my marker!

BEN   Good for you, Sue.  Good follow through.

SUE [to NORA]   We don’t draw on our skin.  You can have your marker back later.

[BEN and SUE resume chatting.]

NORA [interrupting]   Mommy, can I have my marker back?

SUE   Why did I take it away?

NORA   Because I drew a chicken on my cheek.

SUE   Why do you need it back?

NORA   To draw a rooster on my other cheek.

[Fade out]

Filed Under: Scenes Tagged With: cheeks, chickens, drawing, limits, toddlers

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What kind of blog is this?

This is a blog for PARENTS. True, the writer, Sue Campbell, writes books for kids. But this blog is for grown-ups. It has some swearing and would be super boring for kids. Except for the swearing.

The PODCAST is for KIDS and PARENTS. In fact, my twelve-year-old daughter is my co-host.

If your kids like Sue's books, send them over to suecampbellbooks.com where there's some kid-friendly content. EVEN BETTER, join the mailing list. You get stuff for grown-ups and printable stuff for kids. And sometimes there will be super ill-advised giveaways or coloring contests for free books.

MORE ABOUT SUE: She makes an ACTUAL LIVING from writing words and marketing books and lives with her husband, two daughters, six chickens and one messy house rabbit in Portland, Oregon. And yes, Portland IS that weird. She really couldn't be any luckier.

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