Sleep…the eternal struggle. The 20 step bedtime routine. The variety of stuffed animals that need to be present in M’s bed. She knows exactly who’s missing and won’t put her head on the pillow until they are found. No substitutions allowed. Ever. The 10 little plastic animal figurines need to be on her nightstand, and they all need to be facing her, or we pay the price. Instead of fixing them, she will yell. Then Abs won’t lay down. Chaos ensues.
We deal. We play along. If these were her only demands, we’d be fine.
Admittedly, her other requirements are easy to satisfy. When she sleeps, she needs the shade up halfway in her room, and she likes the bathroom light on. The shade? No problem. It doesn’t phase us at all. The light? Different story. When she first goes to bed, the bathroom light is bright, her door is wide open. Fine with me. Both girls can sleep with it on. When we go to bed, we shut the door, but jam a book in there to keep it open a crack. Even then, she’s fine. If she wakes up, there is enough light that she usually will stay in bed and go back to sleep.
Joe, meaning well (and hating the light on and wanting to control the height of everyone’s blinds) went to bed last night, but not before lowering her blinds and shutting the bathroom door. Guess who she woke up? Me. Twice. Guess what she said when I told her to come get Daddy if she needed more help? “No, thanks. I’ll get you.”
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No thanks. I’ll get you. That is hilarious!!!!
My son has always been awful with the sleep thing. Delay after delay and he also needs his light on. We put in a dimmer and have slowly worked it down to the barest of lights. I hope his future wine can deal….
Nancy@ifevolutionworks.com´s last blog ..All I Want for Xmas
My son won’t even sleep with covers let alone anything else in his bed.Let’s hope his bedtime routine stays easy.
I hope it does for your sake! We did it to ourselves by giving in to her whims and demands. If there is one single animal out of place, she won’t sleep.
I love hearing about the rituals of children who won’t go to sleep unless everything is exactly in its place. Too cute but it must tire you out!
Menopausal New Mom´s last blog ..Top Three List
The last part cracked me up! That old saying “out of the mouths of babes” came to mind.
Did I tell you about my daughter’s fetish w/ her socks? Yeah, it sucked. You have my sympathy & empathy!
Sues2u2´s last blog ..Javelinas & other nonesense
No, you didn’t – what is the sock fetish?
Omh, the princess when she was about 18 months old had to sleep w/ her socks lined up beside her on her bed. She first started up climbing her dresser for them until I put them in a bucket on her floor. It didn’t matter how
many stuffed animals or babies she had; the socks had to be there. Oh &
there could be no less than 12 or 15 it seemed like. They had to be lined
up from a certain point along the side to another certain point further on.
This lasted for about a year & a half & yes, I did have to do laundry once
or twice before I could get her into bed. I still have no idea why she had
to have her socks but trust me when I tell you that not even daddy could
sleep if those socks weren’t lined up!
Sues2u2´s last blog ..Prayers for Stellan
We don’t shut our door, although we should, because my oldest (6) heard us ‘wrestling’ one night! Wanted to know ‘who won!?’! Made for great conversation at work for both of us the next day!
I am just used to the night lights & humidifiers now…boys have their own stuffed animals they sleep with, but it changes every night. At least one of my boys ends up coming in my bed each night..getting used to it….
LOL – nice try, L. Of course she’ll get YOU
Elisa´s last blog ..The list