Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Negotiations


11:30 AM

“Bob? I have given you my complete and undivided attention for the last two and half hours and I’ve loved every minute of the puzzles and books and being eaten by dinosaurs and freeze tag and helicopter launching and that part where you ate my sandwich, but now I really need five minutes to myself. I need five minutes where you are not pulling on me or whining or climbing me or demanding candy. Please go in your room, just for five minutes without writing on the walls or breaking things on purpose or trying to ride the dog like a horse or wailing. Five minutes. I beg you."

“But mom?”

“Just Five minutes, Bob.”

“No, Mama! Not five minutes! Nine minutes!”

“Fine. We’ll do nine, if you must.”

“Deal.”

“Deal. Let’s hug on it.”

“OK, but nine. I said nine, Mama, not five.”

“I will try.”

14 comments:

  1. Awesome. That reminds me of a story my parents like to tell about when I was a kid. When negotiating to get down from the dinner table, they would give me a choice of how many more bites I would take - say, 5 or 6? Thinking at that young age that higher numbers were always better, I would go with 6.

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  2. A born negotiator. That's the same rationale that I use when I am eating oreos. Have five. . .ok, nine.

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  3. Love this. Love Bob's mad negotiating skills. I also love the face that I'm not the only mom who pleads with her children for 5 minutes alone.
    And wow, NINE whole minutes. With that kind of time, you can rule the world.

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  4. FACT not FACE. Oh, that was gonna drive me crazy.

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  5. OMG, that is hilarious! I love it. So cute. I'm had that same conversation with my oldest son....PLEASE just play in your room for a little bit while mommy lies down for a few minute!

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  6. Gosh, he'll be an awesome kid to have as a teen. "Here's $50 for the mall." No, I want $20, that's all!

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  7. Sounds like a pretty good deal to mine! Enjoy!

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  8. Don't you wish those negotiations would last another 10-15 years?

    too cute.

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  9. That kid is a hard bargainer!
    Oh, the things you could do in 9 minutes!

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  10. Yet he doesn't understand time, does he?

    My favorite book - Five Minutes Peace.

    I never knew I had so much in common with an elephant.

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  11. Have you tried "Mommy needs a timeout?" Used to work for me. That and whisky in a sippy cup.

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  12. We typically have these negotiations at dinner time... Me - three more bites. The four year old - NO, 5! Me - Well, okay... if you insist.

    Me: :)

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  13. I love this post and your blog in general! That said, at the risk of sounding like I totally missed the forrest for the trees, I have a very important question (to my belly) for you. I recently discovered that I, too, am gluten intolerant, and any mention of a sandwich (or of an absurdly cute 3 year old stealing a sandwich) makes me a little weepy. Please tell me what kind of bread you have found that is actually edible!?

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