The battle of the bed rages on at our house...

...although things are getting better. Last week was bad. I had to sit outside her doorway every night and play hallway police, taking her back in her room at leas 4-5 times. She's figured out every stall tactic, requesting a drink of water, asking for a different color on her nightlight, even asking me to sing the Strawberry Shortcake theme song. Since I only know two lines, this gets redundant fast. At one point, I actually stood there and held the doorknob so she couldn't open it, hoping she'd think it was locked and give up and go back to bed. In between choking sobs, she was pleading "Mommy! Can...you...pwease...open....da...door???" To say it was heart-wrenching was an understatement. I caved and did. Then I tried putting the baby gate up on the outside of her door, thinking if she opened it, she'd be trapped in. It was only a few minutes before I heard the crash of the baby gate being knocked down. She's a persistent one. I wasn't comfortable locking the door as some have suggested. Another friend mentioned putting a baby proof door knob cover on the inside of the door, but we haven't found one she can't beat. I was so ready for my relaxing evening time that I was missing out on, I hid in the kitchen with the lights out, eating my cinnamon roll in the dark so she wouldn't find me. What can I say? Desperate times call for desperate measures. Did I mention that Dayven was peacefully watching football in the basement while all this was going on? When I had pretty much given up, I called for reinforcements and Dayven brought down the hammer of Thor. It's not that I'm not strict enough, but sometimes after being with the kids all day (and barking at them for different things) my words just don't carry as much weight as Dayven's. They know daddy means business. I'm not sure what he said, but she didn't come out again after that. The next night when I was putting her to bed, I dropped the threat of daddy "You better stay in your bed. You don't want daddy coming up here, do you?" She just shook her head no, with wide eyes.

This week she hasn't come out of her room at all at night, although she's getting out of bed at some point, in the wee hours of the morning we think. Several mornings this week, when Dayven got up at 5am (yes, he's an early bird too), he noticed Wyatt's twilight turtle nightlight was turned on. When he went in to check on him, he found Hadley sound asleep on his floor. He carried her back to her bed, still asleep. Wyatt even told me at breakfast that Hadley came into his room at night, so she must be waking him up. When I asked her what that was all about, she said matter of factly, "I was just tryin' to read Wy a story, mommy!"
 
We've had quite a week at our house as it is. Wyatt woke up crying on Sunday night, with a fever and a barking seal cough that sounded like croop. I kept him home from school on Monday to be safe. He was tired and I could tell he didn't feel great, but that night it seemed to get worse. Tuesday morning I ran him in to the doctor and she confirmed acute bronchitis. She put him on some meds and an inhaler. We stayed home the next couple of days to rest. We were all getting a little antsy. We watched a ton of movies, read books, did puzzles, made tent forts. Wyatt asked every day if he could go back to school and I felt so bad telling him no.

Just about the time he started to be on the mend, Hadley took a turn for the worse. She woke with a fever of 102.8, crying and miserable. When I went in to her room, she asked "Mommy, can you make me happy again?" Poor thing! She's had a rough couple of nights and a couple of whiny, clingy days, but that's just how it is when you're sick, right? She has been so tired and more than once I found her just randomly sleeping somewhere in the house, sometimes on the couch, sometimes the floor. Only once while she was sick did she ask to sleep in our bed. She asked in her most tiny and pathetic voice "Mommy, can you take me back in your bed?" I can understand why parents are tempted, but I wasn't about to do it. I'm told it's a slippery slope and one of the hardest habits to break. We've gone 5 years with a kid-free bed and we're not about to start now. She said "Ok, I'll just go downstairs and watch football with my friend, Daddy". I told her daddy was sound asleep and she should be too. I sat and stroked her hair and sang to her for a minutes until she said "Mommy, can you please go back to your room now?" I thought you'd never ask, kid!

You know you're really tired if you fall asleep on the floor...wearing your snow boots.

I'm so grateful it's Saturday. I was beginning to think this week would not end. Today I'm picking up a girlfriend and we're going out to lunch and heading down to check out the new Crate and Barrel that just opened. Mommy needs a little outing!