"Can I..."

Yesterday morning, about every 3.5 minutes, Amanda asked, "Can I watch a movie?"

• While I'm making breakfast, "can I watch a movie?"
• After breakfast, "can I watch a movie?"
• Trying to get the sisters out the door, "can I watch a movie?"
• During kitchen clean-up, "can I watch a movie?"
• While I'm making my bed and getting dressed, "can I watch a movie?"
• Getting Claire up and dressed, "can I watch a movie?"
• Trying to brush my teeth, "can I watch a movie?"
• Getting Jacob going with school, "can I watch a movie?"
• Starting a load of laundry, "can I watch a movie?"
• Getting Amanda dressed, "can I watch a movie?"

I said no in as many nice ways as I could:

• no
• not yet
• stop asking
• go play with Jacob
• go do your puzzles
• stop asking for a movie
• ..but the refrain I settled on the most was "when Jacob starts school and I sit down to nurse Claire".

When my nice voice finally ran out, she stopped asking for a movie.

She started asking: "Mom, can you nurse our baby now?"