Bedtime Battles

OK. She wins. Baby is officially the. most. difficult. toddler. in our family to put to bed.

Let me offer proof with an example. The other night. Put Baby (otherwise known affectionately as "Monster" - I've been calling her that a lot the last couple of weeks.) to bed at a reasonable hour and sat down at my desk to attend to bills, etc. Within approximately thirty seconds she was out of bed.

She stood in the doorway, poised to run - waited for me to look her in the eye and then legged it back to bed. This is a frequent occurence. In case you don't understand the use of the word "frequent" this often happens ten or more times in an evening. The administration of firm "consequences" appears not to be a deterrent to this behaviour.

Finally the other night, I got smart and shut the door after I put her back to bed. Immediately - and I mean immediately, I heard the unmistakable sounds of a nappy being removed. This is what we call emotional blackmail. However, I was going to be smarter than the toddler. With steely resolve I held my ground and did not rush in to restore the nappy to its rightful place. Once Monster eventually fell asleep (as she surely would), then I would put the nappy back on. That was my plan.

I was reminded of my plan at two in the morning when I woke to the sound of Monster bellowing, "MuuuuuuuMMMYYYY! MuuuuuuMMMMYYYY! I do wees!!!" Yes, she surely won. The Baby lured me into her room once again to deal with a very, very wet bed and to put back on the nappy.

Moments after I stumbled back to my own bed, there was a pitter-pat of feet and a small person appeared at my bedside. Foiled again - I had foolishly left her bedroom door open.

I keep saying, that kid is SOOOO lucky that's she's really cute.