.:old habits, new ways:.

we don't do a lot of tv here.... first it was about investigation series, films always on pc, the news as well, and that was about it... then came the pea... first year it was almost the same, she used to sleep early - incredibly early, like 5pm early - and leave us the nights free (yeah, every parents' dream... what if she would be up at 3 in the morning feeling like she was all done with the sleeping bit? happens... sucks, but happens...) so the series were still there, we had to cut a bit on the films, or else, the films played and we were there, kind of, our bodies were certainly there...

now it is a whole new business... the little lady decided that she doesn't do early bed time anymore, so we stay clear of the telly for as long as it is possible during the day to keep her moving and playing... in the evening it should be mickey mouse clubhouse and bed... it is, most often than not... but then, there are those nights when hubby is tired of "meeska mooska" and watches our favourite shows anyway... yep, which ends up on a toddler watching bits and pieces of CSI right before bed time... can you spell disaster with me?

yesterday was one of those lovely nights... today coffee is more than ever my best friend, strong but sweet... strange combo, but I've never pretended to be normal... again, in Italy, it is almost like choosing to eat puppies alive, but hey, they eat song birds on stick so I guess we are even, right? oh, what is with the rambling...

anyway, it can't be helped, the night you start feeling under the weather because of some overenthusiastic open windows spree you are bound to have a toddler up until 3 am disturbed by nightmares... (come on, spiders? what if I let her watch spider man? maybe she will hunt spiders down to get bitten and acquire herself some neat superpowers, right? there is hope...)

so what do you do? apart from dragging your comforter with you everywhere, you read her a story (or ten), cuddle, sing, storm out of the room to try and scream some frustration out because you really just wanted to be tucked in your bed, go back into her room and repeat the pattern to exhaustion(yours or hers, whatever comes first - and be sure, on the best hunger games fashion, the odds are never in your favour...)

the fun bit? it helped me discovering she knows how to speak portuguese... how would I get that from an almost sleepless night? well, after some very long hours fighting my urge to just let her there and go back to the comfort of my room she kind of got that I was not in top form... and guess what, while I was there sitting on the floor next to her bed, willing to pay whatever it took to have a good snooze fest, she stared down at me, run her fingers through my hair and started telling me the story of Little Red Riding Hood... in portuguese!

yeah, melting... so even though the fever was getting higher, my body ached, and I had already been through three packets of tissues, I hung in there... because she is worth it, every little piece of it... eventually she fell asleep, and I was free to go lie in the couch because I couldn't stop sneezing and it was almost morning, anyway... I got myself a nice cup of tea and replayed the bed time story in my head... ^^

how can anyone make you want to climb the walls one moment and have you smiling like a fool not long after? I guess that is what makes her so special, my portuguese-speaking-story-teller-little-lady...

ps.: the photos? completely random... the second one is linked to sweet shot tuesday...