Fold My Laundry Please

I have a talent and I can no longer hide it from the world.  I’ve kept this secret for too long and can no longer stand the burden of it.  I’ve been gifted with the ability to detect bedtime!  Really, it’s true!  Before you toss my claims aside, allow me to provide you with proof.  This evening, for example, I was feeling particularly perspicacious. 

Today was a pretty good day.  Ethan had a Primary Activity to go to and I took Gideon with us.  On the walk home we gathered up several beautiful examples of fall leaves that were scattered around on the ground.  We made some really pretty "magic" pictures by putting the leaves under plain pieces of paper and rubbing crayons across the paper.  We made some cute Halloween decorations with pompons, pipe cleaners, and googly eyes.  We ate macaroni and cheese for lunch.  Ethan and I played computer games together most of the afternoon while Gideon and Aurora made a mess of toys all over the house.  All in all it was quite enjoyable.

Then came the first signals that bedtime was iminent.  Aurora began carrying around a blanket and begging to be held by anyone who came near.  Ethan started saying he was "cranky" and would only be able to remove this stigma through the intake of dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets covered in buffalo sauce.  Gideon approached us several times saying that "Ethan made me sad," or "Aurora made me mad."  These first clues made my bedtime sense start tingling.  Ethan was told it was time to turn off the game and I was treated to an exclusive display of "The Frown".  A request was extended to the boys for the toys to be picked up so that dinner could commence.  That was when I was witness to this final clue:

Did I balk in the face of adversity?  I did not!  I did what every good parent would do and grabbed the closest recording device to record for posterity the proof that my gift for discerning exhaustion was, in fact, real.  It was definitely bedtime.  So after the forced labor of cleaning up toys was completed, I lovingly tossed large handfuls of dinosaur chicken into the microwave, gave the children a few moments to inhale it, scrubbed the dirt off of their angelic countenances, and hustled them off to bed. 

Why go public with this formidable talent?  I’ve decided to go professional and use this ability to make a little extra spending money.  As of today, I’m officially for hire as a Bedtime Detector.  Not only will I use my skills at perceiving the obvious to look at the clock and determine what time it is, I will make a mental note of the many more subtle hints displayed by children, such as you saw in the above video, and compare those items with the level of noticable frustration shown by you, the parents.  Through this process I will be able to confirm whether your instincts are correct and I will promptly let you know whether or not it is truly bedtime.  I will be operating on a first come, first served basis and will charge a reasonable fee.  Act fast so that you, too, can make use of my services!