Bedtime?

This is where I am at right about now. I might run out and buy this book, if nothing else it might make me laugh.

We have a great routine in our house, pretty much all day long we follow a routine. We have had a great bedtime routine since Danny was about two months old. We never rush, just take our time after dinner. We have bath time, gentle play time, lots of stories, prayers, a song, kisses then bed. I honestly don't think we could have a better routine down.

But for some reason, no matter what we do, the child has to protest when we finally put him in his bed, his twin bed, there is no keeping him in there. When my husband puts Danny to sleep, he gets up once, or twice crying, then accepts it and goes to bed. When I put him to bed, like I am (trying to) tonight, and will for at least the next three weeks while my husband works midnight shifts, the child goes completely nuts on me. He runs to his door, screaming for "dada," who isn't here, by the way, and cries cries cries. He even pounds on the door. Honestly, if we didn't live in a condo I would take a walk around the block and just let him pass out, but I'm afraid my neighbors would have us evicted.

I can follow the doctors instructions on how to get him past this, I can follow my friends advice, my own instincts and even suggestions from the "baby experts." But NOTHING has been able to break my kid from this habit. The worst part is (for me), that he is a thousand times worse when I put him in his bed, rather than his dad.

This blog post is the only thing keeping me from giving in and laying with him till he falls asleep.

I wont do it. I wont do it. I wont do it.

Not only do I want/need bedtime to be less dramatic (who wants their kids to cry themselves to sleep??), but I NEED him to stop waking in the middle of the night and coming to our bed.I keep imagining trying to nurse a newborn in the middle of the night, while my husband is working, and my son is crying at the food of the bed because he wants up. I'm not against co-sleeping, it is the only way we survived our songs first year, but enough is enough. I want my bed back!!

If anyone out there wants to send me strong mom dust and sleeping powder I would greatly appreciate it.

Go the !@#$ to sleep, my love.

The carrots

Most of the time my son brings nothing but joy and happiness to my life.

But there are days, like today, or rather this evening as I prepared dinner, that his whining and fussing made me wish I could trade places with the carrots.

As my husband walked in the door after work I muttered under my breath "Thank God." Apparently it wasn't enough under my breath because he immediately got a look of fear in his eyes like "Crap, what did I come home to."

It didn't help that our day started at 4:30 this morning.

Goodnight.

The Bully

My son is the bully. I'm not sure exactly what to do about this. I'll say it, I'm not against spanking, but I have enough awareness of the world around me not to give him a swat on the butt when we're out in public. So when we're at the park and he starts trying to rough up a kid it is hard know what to do.

I pull him aside and talk to him, explain that he needs to be nice to the other kids, but lets face it, he is an almost two-year-old with limited language skills, he doesn't really "get" it yet.

Another problem is that he always tries to pick on the bigger kids, like four and five year olds. He thinks everything is his and he does not like it when other kids try to play with the playground that he owns (in his own little mind).

I'm hoping that after I graduate he will get more consistency, it will be just he and I, no one else will be taking care of him during the day and letting him get away with mischief. One can only hope.

He did get kicked in the face, resulting in a fat, bloody lip while going down the slide, he started acting a little nicer after that. It is a sad day when a mother has to let her child get pounded on a little in order for him to be nice to the other kids.

It is a good thing that I don't believe in giving my children drugs for ADD or Danny might be on something already, that child does not slow down!

The reason so many mothers let themselves go. . .

I'm going to call this one