Battle of the Bed

Battle of the Bed and Bedtime is on. I am tired. I am tired of being pushed to the edge of my bed. I am tired of being kicked in the face, back, etc. I am tired of looking up at 3 a.m. to make sure my little one who is bordered by pillows on one side and me on the other, doesn't find her way over the side of the bed anyways. I am tired of my child thinking my bed is her bed and not my husband's bed.

So last night began the Battle of the Bed. The Battle of the Bedtime will be following one day soon.

Last night I had enough (I've had this reaction many times, but hopefully now it will stick). Over time we've had interruptions caused by travel resulting in the Babe ending up with me during the night, and then failing to get her back to a good routine. Routine yes, but not a good one.

At about 10:30 last night (yes, I know its a really late time to get a kid to bed), I took her into her room, and attempted to get her to go to sleep. Obviously bribing and threats did not work. An hour later and very irritated, I whipped out the baby gate. It has not seen any use since we moved here, and never for this purpose. I was locking her in the tower. She thought this was amusing, and in her own language said the equivalent of "bring it on". So I got her settled into her bed with a blanket, pillow and stuffed animal, put up the gate, turned out the light, gave kisses, and climbed over the gate. Waiting, waiting, waiting, until 2-3 minutes later she started howling. The bravado had ended and she wanted "Mommmmyyyy". I returned, we snuggled, and eventually she fell asleep. Until 3:10 a.m. I returned, she had some juice, snuggled in her chair, in her bed, on the floor. She kept falling asleep only to waken as I was half-way over the gate. Finally around 4:10 a.m. she fell back to sleep, until once again I heard her cry. I gave in at 4:30 a.m.

But its not over. I will rule my own bed again. Once that has occurred, we will work on getting her to sleep earlier in the evening. Maybe I can once again watch the news in my own bed- what a thought!