Auntie Shannon's New Bed

Yesterday afternoon, Auntie Caitlyn came over for a visit, enjoying one of her last free afternoons before she's back in full swing with her winter semester.  Madeleine was thrilled to see her auntie, so much so that the thought of being put to bed by her boring old mom was intolerable.  After lots of tears, Madeleine was able to accept a compromise: Auntie Caitlyn would read Madeleine her bedtime stories, then Mommy would do the rest of bedtime so as to avoid the typical manic chattering goofiness that abounds when Madeleine is with her aunties.

All seemed well.  Until Auntie Shannon decided to accompany Auntie Caitlyn in Madeleine's bed.  Madeleine simply couldn't handle the change to her agreed-upon plan.  There was NO AUNTIE SHANNON in the plan.  And when Madeleine gets her heart set upon something, she takes no pity on the poor innocent family members she's going to offend. 

Luckily, Auntie Shannon decided to ignore Madeleine's protests that she only wanted Auntie Caitlyn in her bed.  Furthermore, Auntie Shannon decided to push Madeleine's buttons by telling her that the bed was no longer Madeleine's.  It was heretofore Auntie Shannon's new bed.

AUNTIE SHANNON: Oh, I just love my new bed!
MADELEINE: (on the verge of freaking out) No, no, no, this is MY BED!
AUNTIE SHANNON: I can't wait to go to sleep tonight in my new bed!
MADELEINE: Um, no, no, Auntie Shannon, this is MY-
AUNTIE SHANNON: (fake snoring)
MADELEINE: (thinking fast on her feet and moving her face close to Auntie Shannon's ear) COCK-A-DOODLE DOOOOOOOO!

Once her bedtime intruder and her bedtime story-reader had been cleared out, Madeleine was ready for me to do her prayer and lullaby with her.  But *I* wasn't ready to let go of the fact that Madeleine had been rude to one auntie.

ME: Madeleine, you know what?  It's not okay to tell Auntie Shannon that you don't want her in your bed.  That hurts her feelings.  And you know what?  Auntie Shannon isn't going to be living with us forever.  She's going to get her own apartment and move away, so you won't GET to see her every day anymore, before too long.

My guilt trip totally backfired on me.

MADELEINE: Well, GOOD, because, Mama, did you know that Auntie Shannon is saying that this is HER bed not MY bed?

So I tried another tactic.

ME: You know, Auntie Shannon may find an apartment that's far away from here.  You might not get to see her that often once she moves.  So you better be nice to her and appreciate her while she's here.
MADELEINE: (delighted) So we get to go FAR, FAR AWAY on a plane to go on vacation to VISIT her??

So I gave up and simply told Madeleine she needs to apologize to Auntie Shannon for her rude behavior.

Apparently, however, the whole concept of a new bed has stuck in Madeleine's brain, because she came up with the following song while playing with her American Girl doll, Saige, today:




Finally, on a totally different note, the kids and I just had the following exchange while eating dinner:

MADELEINE: (struggling to cut up something on her plate) Ugh!  Mommy!  I want to just try a BITE of my green pepper to see if I like it, but I can't cut it UP!
JULIA: Here, I'll help you (getting Madeleine a little bite)
MADELEINE: (eating her bite) Uck!  It tastes like WREATH.
ME: Like wreath??  What do you mean?
JULIA: (jumping in to crack the code) Like a coral wreath??

Man, these kids.  Are they with the program or WHAT??