The ultimate bedtime stall

C; (Emerging from his room for the 700th gazillionth time) "Mommy, I just want to have a happy talk."

Mommy: "You have one minute for a happy talk."

C: "OK, when does the one minute start?"

Mommy:"Right now."

C:"I just wanted to say that I love you and I am happy when you are happy. That makes this a happy talk. Because I am talking about being happy. How much longer do I have?"

Mommy: "About 30 seconds."

C: "Well, I don't think the time we spent talking about how much time I had left should count because it wasn't actually happy talk."

Mommy: "Your one minute is up. I love you, now go to bed."

C: "Oh, OK. But we are going to talk about this in the morning. I don't think it was very fair."