A quick repreieve from the Diegosaurus and Doradactyl

She looks like such an angel sleeping on the couch, doesn't she? I mean, Kaitlyn's dreaming of sugarplums and fairies and all that crap while I'm catching my breath after a terrible tantrum that just passed through the house.

By the way, what kid dreams of sugarplums nowadays? I think Kaitlyn is probably dreaming of black and white cookies. Or ice cream sundaes. Yes, definitely ice cream sundaes.

The tantrum was the result of another round of the fun game that we like to call, "Put on Dora, Boots and Diego or I'm going to scream my friggin' head off and cause one of the neighbors to call child services." (What? You haven't played that game before? Oh, it's a hoot, especially when the sheriff's deputies arrive at the front door.)

Today we started the game after coming back from the neighbor's house. It was about time to take a nap and, well, Kaitlyn decided to play "Put on Dora, Boots and Diego or I'm going to scream my friggin' head off and cause one of the neighbors to call child services."

So now it's Mommy and Daddy's turn. There are really three options, two of which cause Mommy and Daddy to lose the game. First, we could always put on Dora or Diego, which means we lose the game because 1) we just allowed Mr. Toshiba to play babysitter, and 2) Kaitlyn wouldn't fall asleep while watching the show, which just postpones the game. Sort of like a dinner break in the middle of Monopoly.

Second, we could opt to divert her attention to another activity, usually coloring, taking a walk or playing with Little People (not actual little people, because that would just be too cool). Unfortunately, Kaitlyn now understands that she can do these things while watching Dora or Diego, which has rendered the divertion tactic as useless.

Third (and this is where the heart of "Put on Dora, Boots and Diego or I'm going to scream my friggin' head off and cause one of the neighbors to call child services" comes from), we could tell her no and let the fit hit the shan. In order to "win" the game after taking this route, Mommy and Daddy must calm Kaitlyn down before, as the name of the game implies, one of the neighbors calls child services.

Luckily, Mommy and Daddy have never lost this game, even though it has been really, really close at times. The other night, Kaitlyn almost won the game: