The Entertainment Factor

Last night, as we were all watching a "Little Einsteins" dvd, Clairey started clearing off the coffee table.
I sat and watched as she continued to move tv remotes and Pottery Barn catalogs to an end-table. When it was all clear, she got up on the table and started dancing and singing. Now, i have to let you know, I let the girls do this. They can ONLY get on the coffee table if they're dancing and singing. If they get up there, to, I don't know...sit, that's a no-no. No sitting on the coffee table allowed. If they get up there to stand at look at the room from a different view, that's a no-no, too. They are only allowed to get up there if dancing and singing is involved, because then it's not a coffee table--it's a STAGE. So, lil bit gets up there and she's busting a move, and periodically yelling to me, "I love you, girlfriend!" and "You're my girl!" and "My your girl!" aand i'm just laughing because she's so damn funny.

Then Jenna gets in on it. Next thing we know, we're surrounded by a litter of stuffed animal cats, and both girls are on the table singing us an operatic aria about how cats have a good life. Jenna always gets really into it--her voice was all soft and then she'd sing really high and fade out. Very dramatic. Man, those cats DO have a good life.

For about 30 minutes, the girls would run back and forth to the playroom, grabbing great groups of stuffed animals. I was treated to songs about cats, ponies, dinosaurs, and puppies. Then Clairey did a kind of rap about shaking her booty. It was all good. After they finished each performance, they'd run to the playroom, shouting, "Clap! Clap like you're at a show!" So I'd clap--I clapped as best I could with a wineglass in my hand.

At one point, the girls came running out of the playroom--each holding a babydoll. I was quickly informed that the dolls were "Baby Jesus" and that they were now serenading the Christ child. Clairey started out kind of fast, with the lyrics, "Baby Jesus sleeps in the hay! Baby Jesus sleeps in the haaaaaayyyyy!" But Jenna quickly corrected her, saying that if they're going to sing a song about baby Jesus, that it has to be a "soft" song, so both girls laid baby Jesus down on the table, got down on their knees, and solemnly looked at their baby Jesus', softly crooning, "Baby Jesus sleeps iiiiiinnnnn the haaaaaayyyyyy.....baby Jesuuuuuusssss sleeeeeeps in the haaaaayyyy...." They repeated this, oh, a hundred times or so. As they were running back off to the playroom, I asked Clairey, "So, tell me what you know about Jesus." And right on cue, she says, "He sleeps in the hay." hahahaha.

Unfortunately, I had to end the performance. It was bedtime.