January 16, 2011

Sunday:

So, let's talk bedtime. Tonight was rough, really rough. We started out fine, at 8:00, like always, we told him, it's time to get ready for bed, we're going to brush teeth, put pajamas on, read story....then the hitting started. He throws these fits where he hits his leg and we don't really find that too amusing. So, he went to timeout. Threw a fit on the way, of course. Then, when I was talking to him, he hits me on the leg. Ok, had enough, straight to bed. I told him, "Hitting Mommy is not okay. You should never do that, and now, we're not going to have a story at all because you hit." So he started crying and yelling. Like every night, even with a story and all the fixins of bed time. Tonight took 2 hours. In and out of bed. Wanting to go potty, even though he sat on the pot for over a full 5 minutes with no output. He wanted to get up. Wanted to move his clock. Didn't want his clock, wanted his clock, wanted to know what we were doing, wanted covered up, didn't want tucked in, wanted mom to take him to bed, wanted dad to take him to bed, wanted.....you name it.

I'm not sure what to do. It really breaks our hearts that he is upset every night before he falls asleep. He used to not do this. It's been these past few months, maybe before Annabelle was born that he started to throw these fits, and it wasn't till a couple months ago that he started getting out of bed. We know how important sleep is for toddlers, and want him to learn that it's bedtime, and that it's time for bed, and that he has to go to bed.

I'm hoping it's a phase. I'm hoping this is just part of those terrible twos and that he's going to grow out of it, and we have to continue to be patient, and calm when talking to him and soothing him and getting him to understand that it's okay to go to sleep at night and that everyone sleeps.

God give us patience.