Do a Little Jig!

Yesterday evening, Kelly and I went downstairs to watch Red Dwarf VII - Duct Soup. It was fun, but the humor is a bit subtle at times, not to mention British "qbullet.smiley", so I had to pause a few times to explain things to Kelly (who nevertheless seems to enjoy watching; there is usually at least one slapstick element per episode that she can get into wholeheartedly).

The upshot is that we got back upstairs at around 7:45pm, just fifteen minutes before she was supposed to be in bed. We still had her shower to do, her teeth, and cleaning up her toys. Since watching Red Dwarf was my idea, I didn't want to get heavy-handed on her for being late. Instead I did something I occasionally do, which probably continues to work because I only do it occasionally. I began chanting "Hup! Hoop! Hreep! Horp! March!". Kelly seems to love this, and we both have to march, arms swinging wide.

I got her into the shower, told her it would be a quick one. Washing and rinsing went quickly. Then I told her "depress the plunger please!" This switches showerhead to bath faucet. Then I shut the water off completely, and said the following, with little pauses between each:

Please open the drain...

Remove your visor...

Step out of the tub...

Do a little jig...

Kelly started doing a goofy dance without losing a beat. I just about cracked up, which was clearly what she wanted. So after I got her dry, I told her "let's go into the living room, and when I say 'do a little jig', do your dance for Mommy."

We went into the living room, Kelly standing there in the middle of the room prim and proper, hands clasped quietly in front of her. Jean looked up, and I raised my hand over Kelly's head, and said "Kelly, do a little jig!" She started bouncing around, and Jean cracked up. Kelly had to tell us to 'do a little jig', and then we got her to bed.

When I left for work this morning, it was Jean's turn to take Kelly to school, so I said goodbye to Kelly, and asked for a goodbye hug. She gave me one, then asked, "how about a goodbye jig?" So I got one this morning too .