It is 1:45 p.m. My 2-year-old just wandered out of her bedroom 15 minutes shy of the 1-hour-quiet-time mark, so I sent her back to bed. Now she is in there crying and sobbing.

I could:

A) Let her come out. Which sends the message that if she cries and throws a fit, she gets her way.

B) Make her stay in until she is done screaming. Which means that there is a very good chance that she will cry herself to sleep, and then still be in a deep, deep slumber when it's time for us to all leave to go get Beth from school.

C) Stand my ground, but cross my fingers that she stays awake for the next few minutes, and then let her come out at the official end of 1-h0ur-quiet time. I'll have a cranky, non-napped 2-year-old for the rest of the day...but usually that's actually better than a 2-year-old who was awakened before she was really ready to rejoin the world.

Other dilemmas: School pickup is at 3:15. Meatloaf for dinner takes 1 hour to cook. Childcare is available at the gym starting at 4:30. Grocery store visit is absolutely essential today. Kids must be home by 7 p.m. to start bedtime routine. How to successfully incorporate all five of those elements into the next few hours of my day? And with a non-napped or half-napped 2-year-old in tow?

Such are the mysteries I ponder.

In the time it's taken me to write this post, it's gotten very, very quiet in Evie's room. Time to open the door and find out what fate has in store for the rest of my day.