Time for tea?

Anyone with young children would probably agree that you always feel like you’re saying “C’mon, Let’s Go, We need to get moving, We’re going to be late, Hurry up, etc. etc.” Child experts advise “Build in extra time” Well, I’m here to tell you…there’s no end to the amount of time you can build in to a typical preschool aged “dilly-dallier’s day”! It’s not about “time”. It’s about the free-spirited “dilly-dally here and dilly-dally there” and some would even call that “stopping to smell the roses”, but the “dilly dallier” goes on to smell the lilies, and the daisies, and the dandelions, and the… all while, I’m just trying to get us out the door in the morning, so I can get to work on time! So, this morning, after doing her bumbling tumbling routine on the bed, while pulling on her red tights, Kayli initiated a rousing game of hide and seek, of which I was a mandatory draft, then, from her “hidden position”, she noticed a toy she announced she’d “been looking everywhere for”, which reminded her of a DVD we had and “No, we don’t have time to watch that DVD”, so, deflated, she finishes dressing and moves onto “teeth-brushing” where she decides it would be funny to try to engage me in a conversation while she had a mouthfull of toothpaste and toothbrush, speaking in “mmm,mmm,mmmmm” while gesturing and pointing, as if we were playing charades, then becoming deflated again when I told her we did not have time to play this game right now, and she needed to finish her teeth. Then, she opens the top drawer in the bathroom, and begins to rummage through it, fishing out an old eyelash curler, as if it were a prize she just won…WOW, MOM, this is cool! What is it? Can I try it? Can I pleeease? It’s soo cool! Yakity yak yak yak… My explanation is brief, while I retrieve the item and casually close the drawer, promising she can look in this drawer all she wants when we get home tonight. C’mon, Kayli, let’s go. We’re going to be late. We head for the kitchen, where I begin gathering things; my bag, her bag, my coat, her coat, my lunch, her snack… and today, putting on boots, mittens, hats… then, my keys, and I reach to open the door to the garage, when from behind me I hear a tiny, little voice with a hint of an English accent, saying “Would you like a spot of tea?” and I turn around to find Kayli sitting at the little table in the kitchen, her coat is off, her mittens are off, and she is pretend pouring her “Beauty and The Beast Mrs.Potts teapot “ into a teacup, stirring it with a spoon… then she holds it up, offering it to me with a smile and says “You better blow on it. It might be hot!” ALL I CAN DO IS LAUGH!