Glow worms are insanely cute. I experienced their captivating charm for the first time last week whilst watching the footie in the garden. After the initial horror of thinking the shed was on fire having seen "sparks" flying from its roof, we realised, much to our glee (and relief) that we were inundated with little glowing insects. It was 10.30pm, Finje had been in bed since 7.00pm but she simply had to see this. I know diddly about glow worms so for all I knew this was a one off performance. So we dragged her out of bed and took her outside to experience the wonder. She was suitably impressed and after about 15 minutes she returned to her room and fell immediately back to sleep.
I do admit to being somewhat tyrannical when it comes to child-sleep-routine. Finje starts to droop at around 6.30pm and by the time she gets into bed at 7.00pm she can hardly stay awake for Mr Tickle. She then sleeps through until 6.30am providing us with some time to ourselves. This Status Quo has not been reached without sacrifices over the last four years and I'm not about to jeopardize it now for love nor money.Finje is currently sojourning at her grandparents. They live by the sea so Finje loves it. We get a week child-free so we love it. There are of course a number of issues about which I need to turn a reluctant blind eye when Finje is with Oma and Opa. The "Oh if she doesn't fancy her dinner I'll make her some toast and jam instead" brings me out in a cold sweat but she's on holiday and she gets spoiled rotten. It's "in Ordnung".
As we were leaving yesterday however, I overheard grandma say, "Finje, I've got you a German flag for the football tomorrow". The game starts at 8.30pm. Displaying my usual diplomatic flair I think I said something along the lines of "Over my cold, dead, rotting carcass will Finje be staying up to watch". Though I wasn't sure about the German word for rotting so it's possible I said blooming. Oma, distinctly unimpressed by my unrelenting lack of flexibility, reluctantly agreed but left me with a strong suspicion that there will be a, "When under my roof...." defensive stance when the time comes and I am a safe 200km away.
She is FOUR YEARS OLD and the importance of this game is not registering on her radar. I find it highly unlikely that she will sit through it yelling "Clearly off side referee...is he blind?" or "That Schweinsteiger is running rings round 'em!" or "This 4 4 2 formation is quite frankly not working here".
She should be in bed dreaming of glow worms.
Unreasonable?