bed time stories

It truly is amazing how much power a little one has over you. You love them with all of your being and that makes you vulnerable to their every whim. My brain knows better but she can still get to my heart strings. Over the past few weeks Ella has wanted nothing to do with me for bedtime. I start to put her to bed and it's "no, I want Daddy", oh the pain! It does make it a little better that every afternoon she only wants me and in the mornings only I can hold her. It's usually the opposite then, "no Daddy, I want to hold Mommy" for example.
Tonight I thought at first was different. She started out absolutely adorable. I had her pick out her books to read tonight while I got into my jammies too. When I came back in she was on the bed reading her Winnie the Pooh Peek a Boo book to herself. She handed me Rumplestiltskin and said for me to read that one. Then she told me she was going to sit up and read the story to me. So there she sat with her Winnie the Pooh book reading to me. "It's Tigger!" she says to me, then turns the page and "There's Eeyore too!" Oh my goodness. She was doing such a good job. Next I read Rumplestiltskin to her and then it was time for prayers. We got 2/3 of the way through prayers when she stopped and said, "Pray with me mommy" so we finished together. She started off by blessing Keymoni. "I love Keymoni, she's my best friend." The relationship she has created with this little girl is so sweet. They love each other truly as little friends do. Keymoni's mom told me a few weeks back that they use Ella as a way to get Keymoni out of bed and ready for school in the morning. It made me so proud to know that Ella was liked by Keymoni as much as Ella cares for her.
After we were done with our prayers she whispered them to herself again. So sweet. Now she took a late nap so bedtime sometimes can be a problem when that happens. This was one of those nights. After she tossed and turned, stood on her head, bottom up, with arms out to balance herself (something I used to do when I was little and couldn't fall asleep, weird) she pulled out her guns. "I want Daddy" she tells me. "I don't want you anymore, I want Daddy." Ugh. I left defeated to get James. He then proceeded to rub it in. "Welp, I'm off to do my job," he sauntered away with that. Jerk face. Oh well. I'll get her back tomorrow afternoon :)~