The Banana and Me

This morning I got up, made breakfast, and sent Sarah on her way to school.  While Mr. Sneaky Pants was playing on the computer (he's been very into Starfall this week) and The Banana was observing him, I made the mistake of crawling back into bed with my book.  I was halfway through this work of children's literature by E.L. Koningsburg.  Because I know my inability to stop reading, I even set my alarm so I would still have time to jump in the shower before carting Mr. Sneaky Pants off to preschool.  I read about another fourth of the book before my alarm went off, whereupon I faithfully got up and got ready to take Mr. Sneaky Pants to school.  

We had been gifted with a dose of freezing rain in the night, so the car was covered with ice.  However, I was actually running ahead of schedule, and I actually had the wits about me to look out the window and check for ice on the windshield of the car, and I was actually smart enough to run out and start it early enough for the ice to melt and for us to still arrive at preschool on time.  I usually forget to check the windshield, and it is usually frosted over on the inside, and I am usually ten minutes late to wherever I need to go because of this and the fact that it takes five times longer to get my children in the car no matter how much time I estimate it should take.  

The problem started when I came in from starting the car, and realized that I had already actually cleaned up the breakfast dishes.  Things were going so well that I ran upstairs and started reading a wikepedia article about King Henry II of England and his wife Eleanor and his children, and of course, I forgot to STOP reading.  So even though the windshield was clear, we were STILL ten minutes late for preschool.  (But I learned a lot).

After the preschool drop off, The Banana and I came home and crawled back in my bed so I could finish the book.  And that Banana.  She is just the greatest kid.  Unlike her older siblings, who would be climbing on me, jumping on me, licking my face, and disrupting my reading to no end, the Banana just snuggled next to me and picked up her own grown up novel to "read."  She thumbed through pages and read out loud in gibberish while I read my own book.  We had such a splendid time.  We read for half an hour, I finished the book, and then she wanted to play pretend.

She found a nasty old pacifier that had dropped under my bed at least a year ago, and insisted that I pretend to be the baby.  I pretended to cry.  She jammed the pacifier in my mouth.  I pretended to cry.  She fed me plastic pizza slices.  I pretended to cry.  She rammed a dolly bottle against my face (she's not the most gentle tyke).  I pretended to cry.  She sang me lullabies.  

It was a terrific morning.  We made lunch, picked up Mr. Sneaky Pants from preschool, and began the afternoon.