Cereal With Winston Churchill

There was an almighty battle between me and Bethie this morning. We both channelled Winston Churchill. I thought : "Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival". Bethie's mantra was "Never, never, never give up".

It started off innocently enough. I said "Good morning, babies. Let's go and get some breakfast". Katie thought this was an excellent idea, Bethie saw this as a Call to Arms. She would, under no circumstances, come downstairs. After an hour and a half of me pleading, begging, bribing, and threatening (yup, threatening), there was no movement. She would periodically shout down demands like "Carry me downstairs!" or "Change the program Katie is watching!". I was becoming desperate. Finally, I said with all the conviction I could muster "If you don't come down here by the time I count to 3, I will haul you over my shoulders like a sack of potatoes and take you to Emilie's in you pajamas and without any breakfast!". Nothing. I called Dan at work hoping for some advice or support. He said as though it were painfully clear "Just carry her downstairs". Although I was losing, I would be damned if I was going to carry that child downstairs.

Then I heard something. I held my breath. She was coming downstairs. I didn't want to jinx it so I just froze. She came almost all the way down. Bethie said "Pick me up". And do you know what I did? Yup, I picked up the child and carried her the rest of the way downstairs. Good ol' Winston also said "Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm". That basically sums up my parenting experience.