Where oh Where has my sweet child gone?

Oh where oh where did she go? Last night I put a very sweet 5 1/2 year old little girl to bed. Tucked her in with her blankies, played her lullaby cd, and kissed her on the forehead. With a "good night, sweetpea", I walked out the room. Little did I know, in the morning a horrible tired beast would emerge from the bedroom. The beast looked like my child, but clearly was not my child. The beast was crabby. The beast was mean. And worst of all, the beast was full of sassy backtalk. Is this a true case of Invasion of the Body Snatchers? Should I file a missing persons report? Did Aliens comes from the planet SassyBacktalk and steal my sweet little girl? When my daughter was a toddler I used to think there was nothing worse than an overtired eighteen month old. Boy, was I wrong. An overtired and crabby 5 year old is not a pretty sight. They pick fights with their brothers. They don't listen. They whine. They backtalk. There is only one way to recover your child from the space aliens- an early bedtime. Suddenly everything is in overdrive- dinner must be early, bath must be early, books must be early. The tired space alien must not sense early bedtime. If you are caught, you will hear the horrible screams of the "I'm NOT tired!!!" meltdown. I tuck in my daughter with her blankies and listen to extra fussing about exact placement of blankies. Everything is being delayed. I play her lullaby cd and concede to getting a glass of water for her nightstand. I kiss her on the forehead and almost out of the room, when there is "Cuddle with me, Mama." Finally, with a "good night, sweetpea", I gently close the door and look at my watch. Early bedtime has been defeated by the dawdling & lollygaggin. I sigh to myself "please send the space aliens home tonite, I miss my sweet girl."