Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Not the bed! Anything but that!!

What IS it in a two-year-old kid that propels him from his bed as if it were on fire, precisely three seconds after his parent lays him down on it? Repeatedly? For an hour, usually between 8:00 and 9:00 p.m.?

What is it in him that draws him out of his bed in a sleepy state at three a.m. to stumble to our room, only to stand next to our bed and breathe on me until I realize that something is standing next to my bed, breathing on me?

What part of his little body finds it sooooooooo difficult to just stay in bed? There are days that I can't wait to get into my bed in the evening. Does he ever feel that way? If he does, what is it that triggers that desire? I'd really like to know so I can plan to do it every single day.

I love my son. I really, really, really do. As far as real troubles go, this isn't a huge issue. But it happens every evening, when I'm the most tired.

I've tried the Supernanny trick -- putting him back in bed without saying anything. I've spent hours doing that. He just gets out of bed again. He doesn't cry or holler or argue. I've taken to just standing outside his door after I put him down. He's just as stubborn as I am. More stubborn, in fact, because I give in and rock him to sleep.

It wouldn't be that big of a deal, except that we worked so hard to get him to put himself to sleep, and he was doing so well for over a year. Then, suddenly, wham!, he's not into that anymore. He even did really well for a month or so after we switched him to his toddler bed. I guess we just got spoiled.

I'm trying to come up with a positive way to end this post -- I don't like for it to be completely negative... but seeing as how I actually wrote it (except for this last paragraph) two days ago, and my feelings on the subject haven't changed much since then, I think I'll just let it be. Suggestions for creating attractive chemistry between a toddler and his OWN bed are appreciated.

2 comments:

Ry said...

Don't know what to tell you. My 4 yr old still needs to get up at night sometimes! In fact, she started sleeping in our room again over the summer. We put her bedding on an air matress at the foot of our bed, we got so desperate for sleep! Then, she and her big sister decided to share a room, so she stays in bed for the most part, cuz the bigger one is there. There are nights, though, that I wake up to her crawling into bed with me. All kids are different. It's exhausting, I know!!

Damsel said...

We're going to try the sticker bribe. "If you stay in your bed, then you'll get a sticker!!" Hafta buy the stickers first, though.... and pray it works!