Sleep Wars: A New Hope

Don't judge.  Our bedtime routine of late has involved bath time before dinner, dinner extremely late, and then switching the TV from cartoons to episodes of whatever sitcom Daddy Cakes and I are watching.  And then we wait.  Until the little darlings conk out from exhaustion of repeating how very much they would like to watch their shows again. 

It has become such a habit recently to let them fall asleep in front of the TV that I decided we needed a change.  I was hopeful, excited even, to go back to our old  dinner-bath-jammies-story-and straight to bed routine.  So last night we implemented it.  We even had dinner early.  And even though Monster had a nap and Monkey had had two naps, they both just had a long and tiring weekend.

Daddy Cakes took Monkey to the living room, turned off the lights and snuggled down on the couch; the common bedtime routine they formed when we night-weaned a few months back.  Monster finished his bath, picked out pj's and climbed into bed.  I sang our goodnight song, tucked him in and settled into the rocking chair, smug with the knowledge that I just knew he was going to fall asleep easily because we followed the tried and true bedtime ritual.

First he asked for a song.  I sang "Rock-A-Bye Baby" off key.  "I LIKE dat song!" He exclaimed, which had me stiffling giggles and wondering if he was thinking of his brother.

Next he asked for train stories.  I have invented two train stories I tell on nights when he is not very tired.  Feeling smug again, I thought the train who visits the train's house in the woods and eats all the poridge would be enough to have him dreaming sweet train dreams and me tucked into bed in mere minutes.  (Ok, so my train stories are not super original.)

No luck.  After that he asked for more songs, then our next train story which involves a hungry train, colors, fruit, and many train friends.  It is an original, and maybe someday I will share it.

By this time I was frustrated.  He was supposed to be asleep and me snuggled up sawing my own logs.  I told him he needed to go to sleep.  And then the fake snoring started.

"Hooooooonnnkkk-shhhhhhheeeeewwww" Monster repeated over and over.

Then he asked for more songs.  He asked to get out of bed.  He pretend snored some more.

And then.  Silence.  I peeked out of one eye and turned my head a fraction of an inch...and whether he had been asleep or not I invoked the next question "Mommy?"  I decided not to respond.

Silence.

"Mommy?"

Silence.

"Mommy?"

"What?!?!"

"Where is Daddy? I want daddy to put me to sleep!"

"Daddy is putting Monkey to sleep in the living room."

"I want to go to sleep in da libing room!"

"No! Go to sleep or I have to leave you."

Silence.

"HOOOOONNNKKKKK SHHHEEEEWWW, HOOOOOOnnnnkkkk sshhheeewww, hhooonnk sheew.."

Silence.

"hooonnnnkkkk shhhhhh..."  And he was asleep. Complete with one leg hanging off the side of the bunk bed, his blanket most the way on the floor, and his head face turned toward me.

(Sigh) life is never dull in our house. :)