Daylight Savings Time and I are Not on Speaking Terms

Saturday night, we sprung ahead, and Sunday when on without a hitch. We somehow managed to get to church on time and the girls went to bed at reasonable hour. Not so lucky today, It's 7:45 and they are still in their room yelling, more than an hour after bedtime.

The first incident involved Lydia getting out of bed and coming into the living room to let us know what horrible words were coming from Audrey's mouth. "Audrey is trying to get me to say the B word." I asked her what the B word is. "Baaay... Baaaay... " I told her to go ahead and say it. "BANGIT!" I immediately turned to Jayson with my best attempt at a straight face and started laughing. We told her to go to bed. Jayson told me I need to stop laughing when they say things like that.

Not much later, Lydia yelled again. This time Audrey was saying the S-H word. I was a little surprised until Lydia told me it was "Shut up." The potty mouth on that kid. Seriously.

Jayson and I thought they had finally settled down and we got a box of cookies and some milk for a little snack. These were not just any cookies. They were WhoNu? cookies, which are supposed to be like Oreos packed with nutrition. I'll let you guess how they taste. WhoNu? We knew. Jayson had them on his lap and Lydia got out of bed again. I told him to quickly cover them up and he threw a pillow on them. Lydia once again had some minor complaint. We told her to get back in bed, but first she wanted a hug. She hugged Jayson and as the wrapper from the cookies crinkled, Jayson and I pretended to hear nothing. Lydia looked confused and grabbed the pillow to reveal the cookies. Jayson and I started laughing. Lydia got mad and asked us why we were hiding the cookies.

We told her that if she went to back to bed and went right to sleep, she could have a cookie tomorrow. Really a win-win situation because she goes to bed and we don't have to eat those godawful cookies.

Night

On most weekdays, I've been out of the house for about an hour and a half by the time my kids wake up. I absolutely hate that I miss wake-up time. It's one of my favorite times of the day because the girls are at their absolute cutest. They crawl into our bed, their hair a mess and their eyes still puffy (I know, because I DO get to see this on the weekends). Their internal sleep meters are completely charged and they are at their sweetest, giving hugs and kisses to us and even each other. Sometimes, before coming upstairs, we can hear Lydia and Audrey talking on the monitor and then hear the thump of their feet as they run out of their room, down the hall, through the kitchen, through the living room, up the stairs, and into our room. A short time later, we hear Charlie yelling, "Daadaa! Mommy!" and go get her to discover her standing in her crib, holding all of her stuffed animals and blankets and asking us to put her socks on.

On the other hand, I will admit to sometimes being relieved when I miss bedtime. Not every time I have to miss it, but sometimes. When the week has been long and trying, and when Jayson has texted me that he needs a beer. Or three. Those are the days that I feel a bit of relief when I'm not there, but also a bit of guilt and a bit of sadness. Bedtime has been overall a fairly easy time for us. Well, except for when Lydia was about one and a half until two. During that time, we moved her to a "big girl bed" and she would NOT stay in it. Jayson and I made the new parent mistake of laying in bed with her. Then we were trapped. It took us months to finally be able to get her to sleep without us in the room. Then more months to get her to sleep without us in the hallway, sitting where she could see us, working on our computers or reading a magazine.

We did not make that mistake with the others. In fact, Audrey STILL won't get out of bed on her own most mornings. She yells for us to go in her room and get her, despite the fact that she is in a regular bed and could easily get out on her own. Bedtime now is pretty easy and brief. Jammies, teeth, book, hugs and kisses, draw a nightlight for them on their Crayola Glow Station, and then bed. There are definitely nights where they stay up giggling or yelling or crying, but those are getting more and more sparse.

It's not so much bedtime being stressful as it is that time between dinner and bed. One of my friends calls it "The Witching Hour," when it's too early for bed, but the kids are tired and cranky and their internal sleep meter is urgently flashing red. Sleep is required and it will come soon, but not yet. That is probably my least favorite time of day. When bedtime finally comes, and for us it is early because our kids don't nap (even Charlie is outgrowing her naps) and they get up early, it is a relief. The bedtime routine starts and ends and Jayson and I collapse on the couch.

Then the house quiets down. And then I start to miss them and wish they were awake and want to peek at them sleeping but don't want to risk waking up the cherubs that just an hour ago were devils. It is this part of the day when I want to just hold them and stroke their hair and put their cheek to mine and whisper songs in their ears and just love them. When they were babies, a cry in the night brought a grumble and ruined a good night's sleep. Now, on many nights, it's a special treat. One more kiss and hug in the night and they're back to sleep. Or with Charlie, who is by far the best snuggler, ten minutes of rocking under a blankie with her head tucked into my neck. Those are times I cherish.

Bedtime Beast

Audrey has been a handful at bedtime lately, and it has started to really wear me down.When I tuck her in at night, I make sure she has gone potty and gotten a drink of water. I make sure her three blankets are placed exactly how she has to have them and she has two ice packs (we've talked her down from three). I make sure she gets plenty of hugs and kisses. I remind her not to yell for me for anything and that if she goes to bed without yelling for me, she will get a special treat the next day.

It never works.

Inevitably, she yells for me because she needs her blankets spread out again. Then she needs to go potty again. Then she needs another kiss. Then she can't find her SpongeBob ice pack. Then she needs her blankets spread again. Each time I go in there and sternly tell her how angry and disappointed I am that she is being so naughty and we won't get a special treat.

Then she laughs.

Luckily, Lydia sleeps through it all. Audrey's requests are usually brief and simple. A few nights ago, when she couldn't find her Elmo ice pack, I told her we would have to wait until morning, which threw her into hysterics and I let her cry until Jayson came home about half an hour later and found it for her. I wanted to see what would happen if I did just refuse to succumb to her requests. I got my answer. She will throw a crying fit that will outlast my patience.

Just last night, she ruined her special treat, which was going to be camping in the backyard. On my second trip back into her room, I told her we would not camp in the back yard this week, and she told me, "We'll talk about this later."

I really wouldn't even mind all that much if I didn't have stuff to do. I have things I would like to finish around the house, an unfinished sewing project downstairs, and I do need to do some lesson plans, despite it being July. Plus, once school resumes, I will have at least an hour of work each night to do after she's sleeping.

So, we will continue to work on shortening the routine and limiting the trips back into her room. And we WILL talk about this later.

Baby Dolls, Teddy Bears, and Teething Rings

Audrey has always loved having things to snuggle. Ever since she was a baby, she would fall asleep clutching things. Usually soft things.

But really, anything would do.

She has a sweet pea doll that she loved so much that we had to make sure she had an extra one at Grandma's, and we had an extra one at our house, too. Until she realized we had two. Then she had to have them both.  She loves to carry her sweet peas, a blanket, and a pillow around the house.

Recently, there has been a strange development. A couple of weeks ago, Lydia was hiding in our storage ottoman, and Audrey climbed on top of it. Lydia quickly flung it open, throwing Audrey off. She was not able to get her arms out in front of her in time, and her forehead broke her fall on the wood floor with a horrible thump. Her forehead immediately swelled up with a ping-pong ball-sized lump,l and she had a really nasty looking purple and yellow bruise for quite a while. The night it happened, she complained that it hurt, so I gave her some children's Advil and let her hold a little ice pack we have that fits in a pouch on a stuffed horse.

Ever since then, she has insisted on sleeping with the horse. If I can't find the horse, she asks for, "Nother ice thing," and a teething ring will suffice. She freaks out if she wakes up in the middle of the night and can't find her ice. Tonight she got mad at me because I brought her one that wasn't frozen. "Dis not cold!" I have tried to convince her to just snuggle her sweet peas, especially when she complains that she's cold, but she won't have it. In fact, she insists the sweet peas are not in her bed, but on the floor by her bed. She wants the ice instead. I'm hoping she'll grow out of it pretty soon, and have told her it's just plain weird to sleep with ice, but she shows no signs of giving it up. Every night she remembers and she asks for her ice. I suppose there could be stranger things to sleep with? Right?

Little White Lies

Our kids operate well with a system of rewards and loss of privileges. They know that if they do something well, they will be rewarded with things like a special dessert, swimming at the gym, having a friend over, etc. They know that if they don't listen, they can lose privileges like watching TV before bed, picking their chair at dinner, going to dance lessons, etc. One reward they really like is getting to stay up late on weekends. Jayson and I are not a fan of that reward because after a long week, we really like to be able to sit back on the couch with each other, a bottle of wine, and America's Most Wanted.

So, when it gets close to bedtime on a Saturday, Lydia will often ask, "Can we stay up late tonight?" To which, we always reply, "Sure!" Huh? Didn't I just tell you we don't like letting them stay up late? Well, the thing is, the girls can't tell time. Not only can't they tell time, but even if they could, they probably couldn't tell you what their bedtime is. Bedtime for them is about 6:30. This is perfect because I'm home from work by 3:30 and prefer to go to bed by 9:00 so I can get eight hours of sleep. So, I spend three hours with the girls, get them to bed, and then have a couple hours for schoolwork.

So, when it's 6:00 on a Saturday, and Lydia asks if she can stay up late, we'll say, "Well, I guess, but it's already pretty late. We'll let you stay up for another half an hour since you were good today." She thinks she has just performed a major coup, and Jayson and I still get to keep our date with John Walsh. Everybody wins!

Now, the problem is that this only works in the winter, and in just a few short weeks, daylight savings time will end and the sun will set at about 7:00. Lydia may not be able to tell time, but the kid can see. I'm thinking we might need some good window shades.

The Bedtime Routine

Bedtime is my least favorite time of day. I will never understand why kids resist sleep. They are clearly exhausted by bedtime, but unwilling to just close their eyes and rest. Many experts will tell you that the key to a seamless bedtime is to have a routine. My kids are ALL about a bedtime routine. Unfortunately, it's not the same one Jayson and I have in mind.

If Jayson and I had it our way, the routine would be as follows:

1) Get pajamas on

2) Brush teeth

3) Go potty

4) Read books

5) Say prayers

6) Hugs and kisses

7) Sleep

Unfortunately, the routine the girls prefer is:

1) Strip down naked

2) Run around the house yelling, "I see your booty!" and slap said booties

3) Finally get pajamas on

4) Fight over the stool to reach the sink and brush teeth, cry for somebody to help you brush your teeth

5) Insist you do not have to go potty

6) Pick the longest, stupidest book you can find on the bookshelf

7) Squeeze each other's hand so hard during prayers that giggle fits erupt

8) Hugs and kisses and overall mauling of each other 

9) Say goodnight

10) Scream that you need a drink of water

11) Scream that you have to go potty

12) Scream that somehow you dropped your blanket from the top bunk "accidentally" 

13) Scream that you can't close your eyes

14) Scream that you need another hug and kiss

15) Scream just to scream

16) Eventually fall asleep after Mommy and Daddy threaten to remove any privileges you currently have (while the 2 year-old points her finger at you saying, "Don't talk to me like that!")

Luckily, it's all worth it, because our kids sleep 12 hours at night and wake up in such fun, sweet moods. Only for it to start all over again the next night.