I don't really like to write about Jett's misbehaviour on the blog, because at 2 1/2 years old, it's really not that cute. It's a pain in the butt behaviour and it makes me feel like I'm being controlled by the monster toddler that lives in my house. I mean his house. So I don't want to write about it.
But lucky for you, Internet, I'm laying it all out on the line tonight because I have had it and I'm ready to rumble.
Two nights ago our bedtime routine lasted two hours. Last night it lasted two and a half hours. Tonight it only lasted one and a half hours, but I didn't start it until ten after eight, so it was 9:30 before Jett stopped crying and went to sleep.
I read somewhere that a bedtime routine should only take 15 minutes, and all I want to do is find the editor who kept that line in the book and slap her upside the head because all I can think about every night is 15 minutes! 15 minutes! Little Miss Perfect Fmaily and their 15 minutes.
Two and a half hours is insane. INSANE. Jett gets attention for two and a half hours and I get nothing in return except an evening of a bedtime routine that isn't mine. It's like a nightmare that won't end. You keep redoing the same thing, reading the same book, giving the same hug, giving the same evil-eye...and up jumps our little jett-in-the-box again and again. I'll show you Jett in the box.
It is so much easier to keep reading the stupid books and letting him play with the puzzles on his bedroom floor. It is kind of cute too, the way he whispers so softly when Kai is sleeping in the crib. He knows how to play it, and I am so tired. I am so tired of these runny noses leaving slime everywhere. I am so tired of these coughs, one of which is now mine. I am so tired of trying to avoid an argument with Jett, which is bound to happen anyway because he can't watch 6 straight hours of tv, he can't jump on Kai, he can't have cookies for lunch. I am so tired of not having a routine because every day is different because we don't have jobs to keep us in a routine. I'm so tired of not having a job. I'm so tired of being tired.
So bring on his crying, bring on his protestations, bring on his tears, bring on his wailing, his wringing of garments. Bring on the guilt, the second-guessing, the longing to go back in his room and pick him up and hug him all night. Bring on Charlie's soft-side, his willingness to read the next book and the next. Bring it on.
I want my evenings back. His bedtime can be 9:00, fine. I want 7:00, Jett wants never, 9:00 will do. But it will not be 9:01.
Tomorrow night I'm starting Bedtime Bootcamp. Bring. It. On.
3 comments:
wow, i'm exhausted for you. crate training has worked well for my dog...just kidding!
my friend's daughter amelia pushed the same buttons for a while. she said one night, "i don't WANT to go to bed!!!" and her mother said, "you don't HAVE to want to go to bed, but you are." amazingly, it worked. pretty funny. good luck!
Oh, my Lord... that brings back memories. And I'm thinking it was when Celia was that wonderful age of 2 1/2-ish. But now she's 3-ish and bedtime only lasts 15 minutes. My heart is with you. You can take him. :)
Thanks for the encouragement, Karen and Elissa! I'll let you know how it goes! -Amy
Post a Comment