Nightly Dose of Elixure

I try to pray and talk with my kids before they go to bed every night. For Thomas, it was always short and sweet. Couple tickles while massaging his back. A short pray to God to help him go to Princeton (Honest to God, I did not put this idea into him!!) and practice piano by himself. Then he's set. It's much harder with Tyler. Every night she comes up with little variations on a theme. No matter how subtle, it presents challenge to her routine-adhering mother. It usually starts with my losing patience with her getting-ready-for-bed activities (brushing her teeth a couple times, looking into the mirror and pretending to be a princess, then distracted by the self-attaching tooth brush, then trying the cute tooth brush on her tumbling long hair as a comb, on and on and on and on) that last at least 10 - 15 minutes. When she's finally in bed, we do at least two of several things: massaging her cheeks, massaging her whole body (free tickling included), praying, talking, kissing, hugging, shaking hands, kissing my hand. There is no telling what she is in the mood for on any given night. Then, came the predictable part of the routine: I get up from her bed, close her bed rail, close her closet door, turn on her night lights, turn off her big light and then her closing "arguments" (routine conversations we have before I could be released). By the time she came to that part, I was already pretty much at the far stretched outer limit of my patience, again. After final "Bye Happy, Sweet Bell (substitute for whichever princess that caught her fancy on that day) Tyler", I could go down stairs to my quietness before my bedtime. Last night, after I came down stairs, she called from her room: "Mommy, I have something to tell you". "I was tired. We already said Bye Happy". "Just one more thing. Can you please come up?" I did not have the strength to drag along the night any further. Dragging my feet, I went up. Opening the door, my impatience filled the action. She motioned me to come over to her bed: "Mommy, I want to whisper in your ears". I sigh and then sauntered over and kneeled down. She got up and put her ruby red lips against my ear: "I love you the best in the whole wide world. You are a pretty princess Cinderella mommy." I felt my heart melting like ice cream in the sun. I wrapped my arms around her sweet little body with guilt feeling my heart. “God, can you please give me more patience with my precious little angel of a daughter”?