Adventures in bedtime
Oh, life has been interesting.
Monday night, there was a thunderstorm behind our house. We could barely hear the thunder, but could easily see the lightning.
We went through our normal bedtime routine with Trey. Potty, wash hands, brush teeth, jammies on, devotions, memory verse, prayer, kisses and lights out. A few minutes later, we hear:
"The windows are bwankin'! The windows are bwankin'!"
Bwankin' means blinking, by the way. Trey was scared of the lightning. We put a night light in his room, reassured him that everything was OK, and walked out again.
I started feeding Aden, and then we heard Trey again. "I don't want to go to bed, the windows are bwankin'!" After some discussion, we decided Trey could stay up a while with Brandon. They went downstairs and played. And played and played. They stayed up until 1:30 AM. Nice.
Aden and I were up at 3:00 for another feeding, and in my grogginess I noticed that Brandon's pillows were missing from our bed. Once Aden was asleep again, I tiptoed through the house to see what was going on. In Trey's room, Trey was in his bed asleep, and there was Brandon, on the floor next to Trey's bed, asleep.
Brandon told me the next morning that Trey was just scared to go to bed. Terrific. As if the rebellion rampage phase was not enough, why not add a fear phase? Just pile it on.
Tuesday was a no-nap day for Trey, so by bedtime he was exhausted. He still requested his night light, but otherwise the bedtime routine went as normal. Until we walked out of the room. Then Trey was up.
"I need to go downstairs and pway."
"I need you to sleep beside me, Daddy!"
A couple of firm no's had him in the bed, and he was asleep in a few minutes.
Wednesday night, Trey stayed with Giga and did pretty well at bedtime. We chose to take advantage of the otherwise empty house, and try to get Aden to sleep in his crib. Let's just say it didn't go well. He never slept more than 20-30 minutes at a time, then cried to be held. By 12:30 he was back in the pack & play in our room. Sigh.
Thursday was yet another napless day for Trey. It had been a rough day as far as acting out for attention. We went through the bedtime routine, cut the nightlight on and walked out. He was immediately at the door saying he didn't want to go to bed.
We tried reasoning with him that God had designed nighttime for our rest, that when it was dark outside we were supposed to be asleep. Didn't work. We tried to firmly tell him that he was going to go to bed. Didn't work. He had had multiple, um, "consequences" throughout the day, which also didn't work at the time, so we decided against that.
Finally, at wit's end, Brandon and I went in the living room and watched a couple episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond, ignoring the fact that Trey was up in his room, playing with his cars and trucks. About 45 minutes later, we didn't hear anything. Peeking in Trey's room, we found this:
Out like a light just inside the door.
Interesting. There is just no telling what the kid will do.
Monday night, there was a thunderstorm behind our house. We could barely hear the thunder, but could easily see the lightning.
We went through our normal bedtime routine with Trey. Potty, wash hands, brush teeth, jammies on, devotions, memory verse, prayer, kisses and lights out. A few minutes later, we hear:
"The windows are bwankin'! The windows are bwankin'!"
Bwankin' means blinking, by the way. Trey was scared of the lightning. We put a night light in his room, reassured him that everything was OK, and walked out again.
I started feeding Aden, and then we heard Trey again. "I don't want to go to bed, the windows are bwankin'!" After some discussion, we decided Trey could stay up a while with Brandon. They went downstairs and played. And played and played. They stayed up until 1:30 AM. Nice.
Aden and I were up at 3:00 for another feeding, and in my grogginess I noticed that Brandon's pillows were missing from our bed. Once Aden was asleep again, I tiptoed through the house to see what was going on. In Trey's room, Trey was in his bed asleep, and there was Brandon, on the floor next to Trey's bed, asleep.
Brandon told me the next morning that Trey was just scared to go to bed. Terrific. As if the rebellion rampage phase was not enough, why not add a fear phase? Just pile it on.
Tuesday was a no-nap day for Trey, so by bedtime he was exhausted. He still requested his night light, but otherwise the bedtime routine went as normal. Until we walked out of the room. Then Trey was up.
"I need to go downstairs and pway."
"I need you to sleep beside me, Daddy!"
A couple of firm no's had him in the bed, and he was asleep in a few minutes.
Wednesday night, Trey stayed with Giga and did pretty well at bedtime. We chose to take advantage of the otherwise empty house, and try to get Aden to sleep in his crib. Let's just say it didn't go well. He never slept more than 20-30 minutes at a time, then cried to be held. By 12:30 he was back in the pack & play in our room. Sigh.
Thursday was yet another napless day for Trey. It had been a rough day as far as acting out for attention. We went through the bedtime routine, cut the nightlight on and walked out. He was immediately at the door saying he didn't want to go to bed.
We tried reasoning with him that God had designed nighttime for our rest, that when it was dark outside we were supposed to be asleep. Didn't work. We tried to firmly tell him that he was going to go to bed. Didn't work. He had had multiple, um, "consequences" throughout the day, which also didn't work at the time, so we decided against that.
Finally, at wit's end, Brandon and I went in the living room and watched a couple episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond, ignoring the fact that Trey was up in his room, playing with his cars and trucks. About 45 minutes later, we didn't hear anything. Peeking in Trey's room, we found this:
Out like a light just inside the door.
Interesting. There is just no telling what the kid will do.
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