Listening Ears

Mizzou shuts down for Thanksgiving Break and Daisy will be home tonight. We will have her for a fat week, long enough to transition her into helping with chores. I asked her to bring home some working-in-the-yard shoes. She said, "We'll see." Our plans may not be exactly on the same page. I asked Birdie to clean the once again to-be-shared bathroom before Daisy arrives. But Birdie is bleary-eyed from her midnight viewing of Harry Potter. A sparkling clean bathroom may not happen. Of course, Daisy might not notice or care. She, too, will be bleary-eyed as her entire dorm saw Harry Potter at 1 a.m. I am a bit nostalgic for those days of "listening ears." I'd tell the two tots to put on their "listening ears," and if I kept my request to less than 60 seconds and wrapped in the promise of a treat, about 75 percent of the time, they'd comply with whatever. Actually, the promise of treats still works fairly well. I will figure out some sort of reward. Daisy will find a pair of yard shoes that fits. Birdie will clean the bathroom. Big Guy will be happy. Or the worst will happen, we will disintegrate into a big fat time-out, reading books and napping. That sounds pretty good, too.