Since I started my new job, bedtimes have become a little ridiculous around here. Mind you, we've never been very good about it. It was the worst when Brian was working nights. Since he was used to staying up all night, I would stay up with him for as long as I could on his days off. Which meant I slept in late. Like, 11:00 or 12:00 late. Which meant the kids slept in late. Which meant we had a late nap, like at 5:00 or 6:00 in evening. Which resulted in a late dinner. We're talking dinner at 9:00, even 10:00. So the kids went to bed at midnight or later...yeah, it was bad, guys. Let's just say, I was not in a very good place in my life at the time, and the working graveyard shift thing just perpetuated it.
Anyway, we overcame that trial, Brian now works days, and we have had a fairly normal routine for the past year. And for a while, we were getting the kids in bed and asleep by 9:30 or 10:00 at the latest. Still not great, but it was pretty consistent and much better than before.
But since I've started at Ridley's, things are getting out of whack again. Brian and I share a vehicle, and the last two times I've closed, he has dropped me off then picked me up with the kids in tow. Well, I didn't get out of there until 9 or 9:30 which meant the kids were still up and running about when they should've been in bed. I guess I didn't think it would be a big deal since it only happened a couple of times.
WRONG!
Last night was the worst of it. I put Trey and Ally to bed at about 10:00, and those little munchkins were the most awake they had been all day, I think. They absolutely refused to calm down and try to go to sleep. They thwarted all of my tactics, like trying to separate them, and laughed at my threats. Even Grayson was bouncing off the walls (and by "bouncing off the walls", I mean "crawling around the house, laughing at Trey and Ally, being absolutely adorable, but also refusing to go to sleep")! So I did the next best thing which is to ignore them. If I stop giving them the attention they're trying to get from me, then they'll usually stop harrassing me, stop playing "the game", calm down, and finally fall asleep.
Yeeaah. No. It was so not happening last night.
They were in their room banging stuff around, tearing apart their dresser, throwing Apple Jacks all over their clean clothes, when Brian had finally had it.
Now, I hate it when the kids wake Brian up. He works long hours behind the wheel of a very large, very heavy semi-truck, and needs his rest so that he can be alert and aware of his surroundings in order to come home to us safely every night. But sometimes, after I've done everything I can think of, the only other thing that will get their attention enough to where they take us seriously is for Brian to go in there and give them a good butt-chewing. They know that when they have waken up Daddy and made him get out of bed, they have crossed the line.
Did that work last night?
No. No it did not.
So there we are, at 1:00 in the morning, Brian is completely awake by now, and we're sitting on the couch with our heads in our hands asking, What the heck are we supposed to do??
You wanna know what we did?
We watched an episode of Season 5 of The Walking Dead.
And then we went to bed.
Trey finally fell asleep in his room sometime while we were watching the show, and since Ally had lost her partner-in-crime, she came out and laid on the couch with Brian. It didn't take her five minutes before she fell asleep.
What a bunch of ridiculouness.
So tonight, before he went to bed, Brian said, "I don't care what you have to do, but make sure they fall asleep tonight. 'Nap Time' them if you have to."
And sure enough, he called it. Tonight had the beginnings of being just as bad as last night. Trey was watching a movie in my bedroom with Brian, but he kept coming out to see what we were up to and to scrounge for food. Each time he came out, Ally would wake from her getting-sleepy stupor and think it was time to play. And after her bedtime story, song, and prayer, she snuck out of her bedroom and went into my bedroom where my sleeping husband was and started chatting with Trey! That's when I said, "Oh no! We are NOT doing this again tonight!"
So I busted out a new secret weapon--a lullaby disc by Jewel. Ally's choices were to either lay on the couch and listen to the music or go lay down on her bed (we don't have a cd player other than the computer, but Trey had that and he didn't want to listen to the music with us, so I had to use the DVD player instead. That's why she was on the couch, in case you were wondering). We listened to about 3/4s of the cd, and she fought it, and came up with excuses to get up, and asked to watch her show, but then she finally assumed "The Position"--she laid down on her side. Five minutes later, she was finally out. And Trey has been in the room watching his show the whole time I've been writing this, so I think it's safe to assume that he has finally given it up, too.
(Sigh of relief.)
Thank you, Jewel! You saved the day! And I really like your cd, too, by the way. 😊
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