"Mom?"

Jordan has a bedtime routine that usually includes calling me back into the room at least 3 times and then taking long slong breaths accompanied by drawn out "uhhhhh . . . ummmmmm . . .well I don't EXACTLY know how to say it but . . . . . ."and then some short mouth noises and he opens his mouth with an almost "tsk" only to close it again when no words come out. All of this is to say that he never really knows why I absolutely had to come back in, he never knows exactly what it is he wanted to ask me, and he never, ever, has anything as urgent as he hoped it might be to say.

You can imagine the frustration at the end of a long day and the wrestling that results in the children actually IN their beds only to be repeatedly summoned back to the room (oftentimes loudly, threatening to awaken the smaller beast) for no stinking reason. By the third summons my reply goes something like this:
"What?! Jordan, it is bedtime, you have your water, your music is on, the closets are closed and now it is time to sleep. No more questions. We can talk more in the morning and if you yell again and wake your sister up there is going to be trouble."

Now imagine with me the suprise when you return to the room after exchanging similar dialogue and dramatic breathing and are met with "Mom? Can you stay and watch me sin?"

??????????

"What?!"
"Will you stay here while I sin?"

and again . . . ?????????????????
What would be going through your mind at this point? Beyond confusion there was alarm, laughter, and horror - to name but a few.

"Jordan, what are you talking about? Do you know what sin is?"
"Well, when you ask God to forgive you for all the bad things you did."

Damn semantics.

Sigh of relief.

And then a note to clarify terms.