O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree, what have they done to you?

Oh the new Gallahan tradition of decorating the Christmas tree. Tammy turns on the Christmas music to set the mood. Isabella gets dressed for the occasion (this year her Jasmine princess dress, last year Sleeping Beauty). Pull the tree out of the box and proceed to decorate. Now let me give you some advice on how to decorate when you have a two year old, at least when that two year old is Bryce. Pretty simple really keep all valuable decorations out of arms length. We invested in plastic ornaments last year. Win - no bulb was broken, however a few were eaten. Loss - the  bottom quarter of the tree was emptied. This year would be different, Bryce was a year older surely he would leave the tree alone. So we proceed to decorate. All goes well Bryce and Isabella beautify the tree. The next day the poor tree didn't know what it had coming. At first just a few bulbs disappeared, then a few more, then a couple more and in no time the tree was stripped of its dignity. Oh well it makes taking the tree down go faster.

Clarity

"Isabella tonight you are going to go to bed a little early".
Isabella "no thats ok".
"How about yes and how about instead of one story I read you a couple stories".
Stop. This is where I made the mistake. No, not in trying to bargain with my child, but by not being clear on the bargain.
"Ok while I get ready for bed you go pick the stories you want me to read"
Now even less clear. I walk in Isabella's room and there are about twenty books in a pile on the floor.
"Isabella why are all those books on the floor"
Isabella "These are the couple stories I picked".
New bargain three stories.

Why?Why?Why?

I need help to some questions Isabella is asking, my answers and diversions lead to more questions. I think she is going to realize I don't know everything.
Isabella - Why is the sky blue?  
Me - Because it's not green
Isabella - Why can't it be green?
Me - Because the trees are green and you wouldn't be able see the sky.
Isabella - Why are the trees green?
Me - Would you rather they be pink?
Isabella - No they can't be pink.
Me - Flowers are pink and those are pretty
Isabella - That's nice but why is the sky blue?
Me - Maybe it's not blue you just think it is
Isabella - No it's definitely blue.
Help

A Dose of Reality

A small conversation with Isabella gave me a dose of reality....
Tammy had made KoolAid the night before and it is sooo awesome to wake up in the morning and have a nice cold glass of KoolAid, and it was grape yumm. Isabella was with me and shared in my excitement when I went to get her a drink in the morning. I said Mommy made KoolAid last night isn't she the BEST. Isabella in agreement "Yeah Mommy is the BEST". I tried to sneak one by her "Daddy is the BEST too huh". Reality check "No you can't be the BEST if Mommy is the BEST". Then she added "Daddy you are too silly".

Back to the Beginning

I am the chosen one. I am the official bed time story reader for Isabella, and trust me no one else will do. You can try and replace me,  but you will fail. Isabella only wants the best and apparently that is me, sorry. Tammy can attest, she has tried to trick Isabella into letting her read, but Isabella is on to her game "you just get me started for bed but Daddy will read me a story". This honor does comes with a price, we tend to read the same story over and over. I have read a book called Pinkalicious every night for the last 3 weeks. Pinkalicious is a story about a girl who turns pink because she eats too many pink cupcakes, I can recite it on demand. I've tried to spice up the story and change the cupcakes to blue or green, but I have no creative license and I am quickly admonished. The other night my reading must not have been up to standard because half way through the story Isabella stopped me and said "wait you need to go back to the beginning and try again". I tried to protest "but we are already half way through". Demanding perfection she said "that's ok we'll get back to this spot" The next night we "lost" the book. Maybe in a few weeks we will find it but I'm not promising anything.

Why did I not see this coming?

The Batman toy must stay home

    I have a friend at work that just bought a black Ford Mustang with black leather interior, he calls it the Batmobile. I know he sounds like a dork, you would dead on.  The other day I went to McDonalds and got two Happy Meals, one for Bryce and one for Isabella. In the boy Happymeal there was a batman toy and a batmobile toy. I thought I have to bring this to my friend at work he will get a kick out of it. Of course instead of just thinking this I made the mistake of saying it in front of Isabella, one day I'll learn. Now, this toy seemed important and she told me "no you don't need to bring that to work". I told her I wanted to bring it to my friend because it looks like his car. She said "no you just need to leave it here, we can play with it now". I told her that's fine we can play with it now and I will bring it to work tomorrow. She "no it just needs to stay here". Now I'm not proud of my response or the outcome but I said "well Isabella this is Bryce's toy and he said I could have it". She had an excuse look on her face, because Bryce can't talk, she tilted her head and said "OK you can bring it to work but you need to bring it back afterwards". That is the last time I pull the Bryce card, that didn't work at all.