Dad Update and The Official Procedure for Putting a 2 Year Old to Bed

Dad Update
Dad should get to go home tomorrow. He'll be on lots of meds, but that's okay. He's looking great and feels better than he has in a long time.

How to put a 2 year old to bed
Last night I babysat the grand-fabulous Ava and she has her own process for being put to bed. Keep in mind that she speaks in one word "sentences." We think she does this because she doesn't think we're smart enough to understand her own personal chatter-language. So, all of the below steps are communicated one word at a time repeated until the adult-type person understands her intent.

About thirty minutes before bedtime Ava is informed that it's almost bedtime.

Ava tells grandma she's hungry and wants cereal. ("Hungry." "Hungry." "Cereal.")

Ava tells grandma she wants to help make the cereal by standing on her birthday present that grandma bought her. That's not Ava in the picture below, by the way. ("Help." "Grandma.")

Ava tells grandma to be careful while transporting the "Kitchen Helper" to the counter. ("Careful." "Careful.")

Ava wants to eat her cereal at her new table in the living room. ("Table." "Table.")

Ava eats her cereal and is told it's time for bed. ("No." "No.")

Grandma says that it really, really, really is time for bed.

Ava wants to watch Monsters, Inc. ("Inc." "Inc.")

Grandma tells Ava that we'll watch "Inc." tomorrow, but now it's bedtime. ("Okay.")

We go to the bedroom and Ava has to put the dog out of her room ("Oakwee." "Oakwee." "Out!" "Out!"), use the bathroom ("Potty." "Potty."), try to poop ("Poo poo?" Poo poo?" "Try." "Try." *grunt* *grunt* "Can't." "Can't."), put lotion on her hands and on grandma's feet ("Lotion?" Lotion?"), read Green Eggs and Ham ("Ham." "Ham."), read a book about the rain forest ("Jungle." "Jungle."), kiss the family of statues on her dresser ("Kiss." "Kiss." "Baby." "Mommy." "Daddy."), ask grandma to hold her and walk her and sing to her ("Hold." "Hold." "Sing." "Sing.").

I finally put Ava in her bed about thirty minutes after the whole process began. There are a few final instructions from Ava: she wants all her dolls ("Mary." "Mary." "Terry." "Terry." "Huggle." "Huggle."), she needs her pink blanket ("Blanket. Blanket."), that would be a very specific pink blanket of her 352 pink blankets ("Big." Big!") That one took me a while.

Then, finally, "Kiss. Kiss." "Hug. Hug."

Yes. She is the boss of me.