New Year's at Brother D's

I babysat for Brother D. I was all set to be in bed by 10p, but then Brother D promised the nieces they could stay up til midnight. Then he was out the door. Oh, brother! I read a quote somewhere about New Year's Eve that went something like: When you're a child, you want to be an adult so you can stay up! You know you're an adult when you just want to go to bed.

I LOVE this kid. My brother always wanted a kid like Calvin, from Calvin & Hobbes. Well he got him in drag. Convo with Princess Marmalade:

Marmalade: Xena was being mean to me.
Me: Oh? What happened?
Marmalade: Well, I was just spitting on the hamper . . .
Me: Spitting?
Marmalade: And Xena yelled at me!
Me: Because you were spitting on the hamper. Where are you supposed to spit?
Marmalade: [sighs] in the sink.
Me: Sorry, gotta side with your big sis on this one. Hamper-spitting is gross!

We all played a new game from Santa:

Fancy Nancy gets to fancy up her bedroom.

Unfancy Nancy with the plain room.

You draw cards and spin a spinner & poof! You have a fancy room. At one point, Xena accused Marmalade of cheating.

Marmalade: Nuh-huh!
Xena: Yuh-huh! [to me] She's lying!
Marmalade: Nuh-huh!
Xena: Yuh-huh! I can tell. She's got her lying face on!
Marmalade: Nuh-huh!
Xena: Yuh-huh! [pointing] That's your lying face!

It made me think of Dave Dobson. He would never have said "lying face," but he could appreciate what Xena was noticing in M's Other-than-conscious-communication. :-) Incidentally, can you imagine little boys playing a bedroom decorating board game???

After Fancy Nancy, I said, "OK, girls . . . ." Marmalade gave a preemptive, "I don't wanna go to bed, now!" I said, "But you're not going to bed now. It's New Year's Eve. You have to stay up til midnight." 10 minutes later, she was zonked out on the sofa. [Negative reversals, gotta love 'em. Thanks, Dave.] And then there were two.

We played cards:

Triple War???!!!

I taught them how to play Crazy 8's. "You see, kids. Back when I was your age, we didn't have Uno. We played with real cards."

I was really fading! Xena held on as long as she could, but zonked out when I turned on the TV. Aphrodite & I played Spit (another card game) in between commercials. And then!

Kathy Lee Gifford & Andy Cooperson. Yes, I'm being a smartass. I know who they are.

I said, "Happy New Year. Now we can go to bed." "But when are Momma & Daddy coming home?" Hehhhhhh . . . we didn't last. HAPPY New Year!