First things first: SPOOKYRACH won the 10,000th comment challenge! This was several days back but I kept forgetting to announce it. E-mail me your address, and I’ll send you some goodies sometime, oh, before the 11,000th comment.

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Next, the book challenge: I recently finished reading David Allen’s Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for Work and Life, which is not bad as far as books like that go. It’s definitely better as a sequel to Getting Things Done than a standalone book.

I also am working on the children’s lit article series and just finished reading Louis Sachar’s Holes. What a well-told story with a lot of heart (amid the creepiness) and some interesting themes.

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This weekend I asked little she-who-is what a bunny delivering candy had to do with Jesus’ resurrection. (I must admit I myself am stumped, except for the pagan tie-in.) She said with a “duh” tone, “The Easter bunny is just a story, it’s your parents who bring you the candy.” I said, “You think so?”

After a little probing, it appears she is much more ambivalent about Santa Claus. I think she realizes the story strains credulity, and it’s not like we have gone to Herculean efforts to play up the Santa story. She knows that the guy who dressed up as “St. Nick” at our church sings in the choir, for example. (Though he is a very convincing Santa.)

But she wants to believe.

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The other night the divine miss m insisted on wearing the Cinderella dress over her PJs during book time. I made a deal with her that she would take it off before climbing into bed. Normally her wearing of the dress is not a hill I’d be willing to die on (see: coat, wearing of). But she is like the Princess and the Pea at night, so we hold a harder line when it comes to pajama choice, adequate blanket (no, the 18×18 inch doll blanket is NOT enough), and so forth.

After each book we talked about it: “What happens when we finish this story?” “I take off the dress.”

You know what the two-year-old did at the end of book time!

My tactic with her is not to engage. When either of the girls starts pushing I just say, “OK, let me know when you’re ready,” and calmly leave the room. Within 5 minutes they are coming looking for me. (Hey, there has to be some advantage to not being able to use the bathroom without having a kid hollering outside the door… the girls Must! Be! With! Mommy!)

This time, I waited about 10 minutes—nothing. So I went into the room.

The girls are in bed, the light is on, and they’re both asleep. And M is wearing the dress.

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The next night M had a bad dream and said she climbed into C’s bed for awhile. Aw.

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I sent off a little tip to Family Fun magazine (send us your great idea, we’ll pay you $100) and I found out today it will be published in an upcoming issue. Nifty!