Well, we had a great plan. Kinsey had been up kind of late on Friday, just due to stuff going on, so we thought that we'd get her into bed before 8 to get some good long sleep before church on Sunday.
Oh my.
7:30, she's in bed. Sheryl and I are cleaning up the kid detritus from the day and we hear her feet come padding out of bed. "I want to be with you guys." Well, it's kind of early for her, so we let her stay up for a few minutes, and then we take her back to our bed and she and I watch The Incredibles for a little bit before I take her back to her bed.
8:00, she's in bed. I'm turning on her Twila Paris CD and she starts getting weepy. "Why are you crying, sweetie?" "Twila's voice is so beautiful!" Um, oooh-kay. "Do you want me to turn it off?" "No." "Ok. Good night." "NO DADDY. DON'T LEAVE ME!" And so starts a whole thing about how she's scared even though the child has about 50 nightlights in the room (well, 3, but that's still a lot). She's afraid of bad dreams. And she gets herself so worked up that she thinks she's going to throw up. So into the bathroom we go. I hold her hair up. No puke. She uses the bathroom. Back to the room. "NO DADDY! Don't leave." "Kinsey, it's getting late. You have to get some sleep."
8:30. She's in bed, but not for long. She comes out again, crying for us and weeping, and oh my gosh, if she doesn't fall asleep, I might have to give her Nyquil or Benedryl or whiskey! I carry her back to her room and decide that what I can do is read her some more of her book, By the Shores of Silver Lake. And I read, and I read, and I read. Four more chapters. And each time I think she's asleep because her eyes are closed and she's breathing deeply, I stop, and she says, "No, Daddy, keep going please." Sigh. So finally, it's getting late and I need to get some stuff done down in the basement. So I decide that the best way for her to fall asleep is for her to stay with me and watch football while I'm working.
9:30, she's downstairs in a chair. She curls up and about 9:45, she's asleep. I leave her there until 11 while I'm working and I carry her gently up the stairs and lay her in bed. Relieved that my plan finally worked.
12:30, she's in my bed. Having completed all my stuff (work, watching SportsCenter, playing Xbox), I head upstairs. And Kinsey is sleeping with Sheryl in my bed. As I come in to get ready for bed, I notice this and she looks up at me and just gives me the most cherubic smile and I give up.
Which is how Kinsey ended up in my bed Saturday night and I ended up in hers. Thankfully, the last two nights have been back to normal and hopefully next time we'll lay the law down a little harder.
Yay Parenting!
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Also, you really need to read and see the post by Sam Davidson today called Mean What You Say about the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty which might not be all we think it is. Very strong stuff.
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1 comment:
(Caveat: I don't have kids) I always wondered if it would work to tell them if they didn't go to bed and stay there, the monsters would get them. The bed covers were magical. ;)
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