Blowing Caution to the Wind

Oh, hello. What are you doing here? What? Reading my blog? I have a blog? When did I last write a blog post? Before Christmas AND New Years? I missed two holidays? Oh so THAT'S what was happening last week. I was WONDERING why my kids were so...so...energized...and happy....and covered in cookie crumbs. Whew, that was fun!

So the New Year has started and I am optimistic. I just don't believe that we are going to go two full years without employment. I mean, that is just impossible, right? Sixteen months, sure, but twenty-four? That would be ridiculous. Unheard of.

Ohmygodsomebodystopme. Remember three years ago when I bragged about Jett sleeping through the night? That was classic, because I think I was awake for another two months after that. You would think that I would have learned my lesson.

But I'm not superstitious.

Like today, for example. Today I don't take it as a symbol of things to come that the interview Charlie had lined up for Thursday got cancelled. Got cancelled because they decided not to fill the position - for now. Nahhhhhhh. Not superstitious. Caution to the wind, I say! Blow! Blow!

But I'll tell you what I do take as an omen - a good omen. Today we bucked tradition and skipped Jett's nap. We didn't even give him "quiet time". We just let him play and play and take three time-outs and then play some more and not eat his lunch and then I took him to school, thank god. THEN at home this evening I put both boys to bed at the same time - in the same room - and they fell right asleep. We read books on Jett's bed, then I lifted Kai in to his crib, tucked Jett under his blankets, sweetly threatened Jett that if he got out of bed I would turn off his nightlight - and then I simply left the room and they simply stayed in their beds. Without giggling or fighting or throwing their sippy cups across the room. It was 7:55 pm.

I walked out of that room feeling like I deserved a gold-medal in parenting. I did not feel guilty at all about my turn-off-the-night-light-threat. Until just now, when I wrote that, a little bit. But it worked! Something worked.

Until tonight I've been sitting and nursing Kai in his dark room and then putting him in his crib to sleep. Then half an hour later we'd start the torture of putting Jett to bed. We'd let him fall asleep in our bed, and then move him to his own bed when we went to bed. It was a good arrangement for a while, but I started getting annoyed. I wanted to go through the dreaded bedtime routine once, not once with each kid. I wanted Jett to be tired at bedtime. I wanted him to fall asleep in his own bed, not mine. I wanted them both asleep before 8pm.

Tonight something worked. We did it. I'm optimistic. Happy new year.