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It's 7:15. The girls have been in bed and quiet for almost 30 minutes. (Yes, my children go to bed before 7 PM. Especially on school days. They are completely wasted from the day by then. But they're awake before 6 AM, so pick your poison.) Bill and I are sitting in front of the last fire of the year, lights dimmed, listening to the crackling of the disappearing logs.
"Stop doing that" emanates ominously from the girls' bedroom. "Stop doing that" again. Barely a pause before the next "stop doing that" is uttered. Work it out girls; use your polite words and respect each other. "Stop doing that." Tessa is getting into a rhythm here, and Maggie isn't even bothering to respond, politely or otherwise.
Alright, let's nip this in the bud. Don't want things to get out of hand so "late." Parental referees (or mediators would be a more optimistic term) are on their way. Tessa is sitting up in bed, practically leaning over Maggie, repeating her ever-more-annoyed "stop doing that." Maggie, for her part, is spread haphazardly all over her side, a 5-foot stuffed snake wrapped around her neck, snoring like an ... like a ... well ... snoring really loud!
So we perform a snake-ectomy. Maggie doesn't wake up but shifts in her sleep. The snoring ceases. Tessa is a little miffed that her sister is allowed to bug her in her sleep, but is quickly (mostly) pacified and tucked back in. And the rest of the evening passes peacefully and uneventfully. Just another nightly unadventure in parenting.
