All in good time

Every day for the past week or so, at some point in the day, I have remembered that we rented a DVD with the ridiculously optimistic idea of actually watching it, eventually. I didn't even know what movie it was - Macondo Papa picked it out - just that it was for grown-ups, and that it was already one, two, three, four days overdue.

Every night over dinner, one of us reminds the other, with an eager smile:

Let's do the m-o-v-i-e tonight.

Speak too openly, and the Monster will get the crazy idea that he gets to watch Kirikou ride around on a giraffe, again.

Anyways, then there's dessert, a few minutes to enjoy the only time of the day when the kids play nicely together, growling and roaring and chasing each other around the house. It's 10pm. This is Argentina time.

We start quieting down, brushing teeth, picking stories, separating the kids.

I wrestle with Monkey in a drawn-out process of reading, nursing, running away, cuddling, singing, nursing, running away, lying down on the floor, running away, nursing, lying down on the bed, nursing, nursing, nursing, falling asleep. We both fall asleep.

Macondo Papa is holding his own with Monster, reading a story in an increasingly drawn-out, monotonous voice, stopping for some deep breaths, gently insisting he keep still, turning off the lights, singing a song, gently insisting he keep still, not-so-gently insisting he keep still, and so on.

One and a half to two hours later, Macondo Papa and I stumble blearily towards each other, alternatingly either half asleep or pissed off that so much of our time is spent keeping still in dark rooms trying to get our kids to sleep.

Oh, and the m-o-v-i-e? It's either forgotten, or postponed until tomorrow, in the name of sleep. Again.

Well, I am happy to report that after 9 days of our overdue m-o-v-i-e sitting in its case, we watched it! And it was a good movie - Leonera - though not easy to watch.

Doesn't it feel just so great to watch a good movie every now and then?