Last night Mark and I babysat for Bob and Michelle. I realized that adding a second child to the mix greatly changes the dynamics! I was surprised that Kiera, the 4 month old, was the easy one to get to sleep and she didn’t fuss once the whole night. Grace, 3 year old, was much more challenging. She is at the age where she will try anything to not go to bed. Plus she is wicked smart and really funny. She told me she couldn't sleep until the birthday cake was delivered (there was no birthday cake being delivered), she informed me she couldn't sleep as long as the dog was outside because the dog hates being out alone (so not true), then the issue over what light she is allowed to keep on at night. She is too dang smart for her own good and I had a hard time figuring out what she is actually allowed to do. Eventually I got her to bed and she fell asleep.
The secret it turned out was to ignore her. I let her try to convince me to do what she wanted, but I pretended I couldn't hear her. I turned off the lights, put her in bed, gave her a kiss and left no room for discussion regarding her not feeling sleepy and not wanting to go to bed. It worked because she was out in less than a minute. I knew she was tired but she was determined to fight it all the way.
One funny exchange between her and I was regarding the Christmas Tree and taking the ornaments off the tree.
Me: “Grace, if you take the ornaments off one more time you are going to your room.”
Grace: Picture a cute 3 year old taking the ornaments off the tree.
Me: “Go to your room right now.”
Grace: Diving under the highchair kicking and screaming.
Me: Carrying her to her room saying “You are not being funny or cute right now” (no I have no idea where that came from other than just being frustrated).
Grace: “Well I’m not trying to be funny or cute right now.”
Needless to say Mark lost it as did I after I made sure she could not see or hear me laughing.
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