It's past bedtime. Annie's supposed to be sleeping. Yet, I hear the following called out loudly from the other room, as Annie 'talks to herself', "I sure hope Mom will be happy to see me when I come in her room to tell her about Ariel's sisters and how their names all start with A's. [pause] I hope my Mommy will be happy to see me and hear about Ariel . . ." I can hear her approaching my room slowly. I call out in response to 'overhearing' her not-so-internal monologue, "Annie, don't even try it. You are in bed for the night, you can tell me in the morning."
Sobs, wailing, tears. "My Mommy doesn't love me and doesn't want to hear about Ariel or even see me!" But I do not bend. I never falter. It's bedtime, so I callously call out responses to all her various complaints, "You already had dinner, you can eat in the morning," or "Dad already tucked you in with all your blankets . . . if they came off, you put them back on," or "You don't really have to go potty, you just went," and "If you have a snotty nose, go blow it and get right back into bed." (This last one is tricky -- she's trying to lure you into her room . . . which is a greater 'prize' then getting to leave it for a minute by herself. Usually when I tell her to go ahead and get a tissue, she doesn't even attempt leaving her room, as her real motive was to drag us back in there . . . )
Even now I can still hear her in her room, "I'm still really sad because my Mom doesn't want to see me, and my Belle needs her blankie and my Mom won't wrap it around her, and I need a tissue. [Sobs. Pauses. Starts sobbing again.] I'm still sad, because my Princess blankie isn't on! And I don't think my Mom even wants me to tell her about Ariel!"
I'm telling you, I'm heartless and hardcore. Once bedtime has come and we've brushed teeth, read books, said prayers, wiped noses, gone potty, gotten drinks and all that . . . I'm done. I seldom 'break'. No matter the amount of crying and whining, I ignore it, or casually call out something cruel like, "You've already brushed your teeth Annie, I don't want to hear about how they feel dirty . . ." Which causes banshee-like shrieking on her part.
Greg though . . . he's much more of a push over. :-) He falls for all of it way more often then I do. (My weakness: illnesses. I'm a sucker for letting my kids get away with anything if they're sick. But normal bedtimes, I'm as cruel as they get. Just ask Annie. She's in her room talking about her 'mean Mom' as I type this.)
7 comments:
It's not cruel its good parenting. We need quiet time to and they need to go to bed right? Mike use to tease me with Winter he said I was a sandcastle I just caved with her, now he says I'm to mean with the others, and now he is the caving sandcastle.. We can never win right so we might as well get some peace and quiet at night by being the sleep nazi's
Kids are so creative and so good at their manipulation of bedtime and other aversive activities.
I know it must not be hilarious to go through it every night, but it is hilarious to read about all of Annie's antics.
I laughed out loud about Ariel and her sisters, and how she so "hopes" her mom can't wait to hear all about it at bedtime. Silly Annie!
Claire feet itch uncontrollably at night. I practically throw lotion at her.
As to the mean mommy thing, we're currently discovering that we can affect other people's feelings and trying out mean things on mom, dad, and grandma. It's not fun, and it still hurts even though we know she doesn't mean it.
I do NOT have your strength!! I wish I did. Funny you even bring this up. Jackson has always been terrible in bed, Wyland however was my good boy. But for the last month he's been pulling Jackson's antics. Last night I got tired of him thrashing around and whining for no reason (Jeramie had put him in bed with us in an attempt to get some sleep). So I get up and go put him in his crib. Which immediately results in sobbing. I close the door and proceed to close my bedroom door in an attempt to dim the wailing. When I get back to be Jeramie isn't there, he's gone down to fix a bottle. Next thing I know he's back in Wyland's bedroom with the LIGHT on!! I'm ANGRY at this point because I'm thinking how is he supposed to go back to sleep with the light on. Oh no, the kid barfed over the side of the crib. I can't win!!! The last time I put him in there and tried to hold a steady line he climbed up enough to FALL OUT of his crib!! Not sure where we'll be headed from here. :o(
This was a hilarious post! And you are a mean mom. You just have her call me and tell me all about Ariel's sisters names... of course, I'll probably be asleep and not answer my phone.
I have a feeling that's how it's going to be with me and Adam. Once I set a rule/standard with kids I'm babysitting, I stick to it, but Adam's a little softer than me.
Wow. She's GOOD, but you're BETTER. Sometime in the future when Cooper is giving me similar excuses, I'm going to have to look at this post to sum up strength to stick to my guns, or maybe call you for a pep talk. Go Mommy, go!
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