Bedtime Wars : Part One

If you haven't tried to put small children to bed before, you haven't lived.

It's also possible you haven't said "Go brush your teeth" so often it doesn't sound like words anymore, or gone up and down the stairs 800 times in search of the "correct" blankie, or tried to convince anyone that you suddenly forgot all the words to Let It Go and can I please sing something else tonight?

The same thing happens every night. The kids all need to brush their teeth, maybe be bathed, put on pajamas, maybe there is prayer or stories or singing, and then they are supposed to close their little eyes and go to sleep. Most parents understand that a routine makes bedtime easier.

Most children act like bedtime is an unpleasant surprise every night.

via Buzzfeed

Puddin's children are actually pretty good about bedtime, especially now that DaVinci has his own room. He puts himself to bed now, and does a lot better when he's not being pestered by his little brothers. Slim and Deedle don't bother with pajamas, so after a couple of books or a chapter of Harry Potter, as long as they stay on their own beds and don't poke each other, they fall asleep fairly quickly. Papaya gets diaper, pajamas, water, blankie, story, song, kiss, and she goes to sleep.

Things were not always so easy.

Before DaVinci was old enough to understand things like common sense, he was a toddler who WOULD NOT STAY IN BED. Slim, at only 1 month old, was sleeping through the night. Here is Puddin's account of one particularly bad night trying to get toddler DaVinci to FREAKING SLEEP ALREADY:

You know, having a bad night because of your kid is WAAAAY different if they're sick. It's not their fault. But last night....oh man, DaVinci had NO EXCUSE.

To start, yesterday sucked. DaVinci was a monster all day.

5:00pm- Cue momma's migraine. :(

6:00- Daddy gets home. Some relief!

9:00- DaVinci's bed time. Gets changed, daddy reads books. Sets up baby gate. Lightning storm starts.

10:00- DaVinci still awake. Normal

11:00- DaVinci starts freaking out about the thunder which is loud now.

11:30- We take DaVinci out of his room to cuddle while we finish watching tv

12:00- decide we'll take him to be with us so we can all get some sleep.

12:30- DaVinci's still not asleep. Storm is over.

12:45- time for DaVinci to go to HIS room because he's not going to sleep in our bed.

1:00- DaVinci pushes baby gate down and comes back in our room

1:02- Daddy takes him back to his room. Breaks baby gate

1:12- DaVinci walks back because baby gate is broken.

1:14- Momma takes him back and fixes baby gate.

1:35- DaVinci pushes baby gate down again. comes in our room.

1:36- I let him stay. He’s GOT to be exhausted. He'll fall asleep, right?

1:48-WRONG. Still squirming around on the bed and/or messing with stuff in my room.

1:49- I take DaVinci back to his room. "I love you. Good night." I lock the door. How else am I supposed to keep him in his room??

1:50- Cue hysterical crying from DaVinci. "Hello? Momma? Hellooo?" :(

1:51- By the way, I still have a migraine.

1:55- I take my blanket, unlock his door, and go lay down on his tiny, 100-lbs-max toddler bed so he'll fall asleep.

2:00- Ok, I think he's asleep. slooooowly get out of his bed. Gah! He's awake! I tell him I'll just sit by the door for a while.

2:06- carefully open his door, sneak out, lock the door, close it. walk down the hall. DANG IT, he's awake!

2:07- Cue hysterical crying AGAIN because of, course, we abandoned him.

2:15- DaVinci shows up in my room. YES, he learned how to unlock his door. JOY. Maybe I'll just leave him alone and he'll fall asleep somewhere...

2:30- I wake up to crinkling. DaVinci found a bag of gumballs and was trying to open it! Gah! Alright, no more wandering. Plus, I remember he knows how to open the front door. Wouldn’t THAT be fun?!

2:31- Take him BACK to his room. Hmmm, how to keep him in his room without making him think we abandoned him…

2:34- Crazy Momma pushes love seat from living room to in front of DaVinci's door. YES! Success!

2:35- Good night.

2:50- Guess who climbed OVER the couch and is back in my room?!

2:51- BACK to his room (this is about the EIGHTH time, we’re putting him to bed AND I still have a migraine!) This is getting ridiculous. What to do, what to do….

2:52- Insane, sleep-deprived, migraine momma takes baby gate and suspends it in the door frame above the couch. Brilliant!

2:53- Cue DaVinci crying again when he realizes he can’t get out. I laugh.

3:00- Momma falls asleep. DaVinci does too at some point only to wake up again at 7am.

How was YOUR night? :)

Bedtime Barricade!

This feels like a very long post!

It's cool, though. I have more stories -- next time will be stories about Goosey and Puddin' not going to bed!

Sweet dreams everyone!

-Goosey