4:30 am

It is 4:30am. You may think I am awake because I am 9 months pregnant and finding a comfortable position to sleep in as likely as me finding a bra that fits my current size. And, that would be true, but
the reason I am so wide awake that I am writing this is because there are ear piercing shrieks coming from outside our locked door. It did not begin that way. No, it started as a 4am visitor which Todd promptly escorted back to his bed. It developed into this screaming session with both boys, and we are not sure what our next step should be. Unfortunately, it seems, bedtime wars have begun....again. This time it is Chase putting up the fight. The last few days Chase has been a bit clingy to me. Although he has gone to school and to stay with Sandie (not to mention my parents) at the office without even a complaint, when we are home together he must be attached to me. All out fits begin when I leave the playroom to get a diaper, juice, sneakers, whatever it is. All are quick errands that under normal circumstances he would not notice I was gone. But, now not only is he noticing, he screams, the tears begin, along with the pleas of "mommy don't leave me!"
At bedtime it is not so different. Things start out great and Chase gets into bed, he will even claim to be sleepy, but within minutes of leaving his room he is crying and out in the hallway begging me to sleep with him, or for him to sleep in my bed. It is a nightmare.
Several days have passed since I began this posting. The war continues. Last night I was concerned I was going to go into labor. Chase would get out of bed and I, without speaking to him or showing any signs of affection, would swifttly put him back in bed. After about 30 long minutes Todd took over and handled it his way but still to no avail. The fight ended at 10:45pm (one and a half hours later) when I sat in the rocker singing nursery rhymes until he fell asleep. I am not sure whose victory this was but I am thinking it was not mine. With Todd out for three of the next four nights I am clearly dreading bedtime.

Super Nanny!!

I have watched Super Nanny from time to time. I think it is Super Nanny, it could be Nanny 911. It's the one with Jo, the nanny with the British accent. I do not watch it regularly, in fact I am not even sure when it is on. But, the few times I have caught it I am always amazed by what she does and vow to watch it more. When is it on?
Anyway, the last episode I saw was a family with 4 out of control kids. They were having sleep issues with one of the daughters, who happened to share a room with one of her sisters. Jo told the parents to put her back in her bed without saying a word. They did this a number of times, amidst absolute hysterics, and eventually she went to sleep. If my memory serves me correctly, the other daughet was asleep, somehow. When I watched this episode I had no idea I would eventually need to dig through the memory banks of useless TV I've watched to recall the episode. With the way my memory is these days I am surprised I recalled any of it.
Anyway, last weekend Ryder decided to return to his favorite past-time of his 16th month and jump out of the crib again. This time he did it only when he woke up in the morning or after a nap. There is nothing better than a 2 year old at your sleeping head at 6 am shouting mommy at an octave forbidden at such hours. Todd and I wondered what steps to take in such a situation, but felt fortunate that he was not giving us a hard time at bedtime.
Tonight that changed. Of course, as luck would have it, Todd was out for the night leaving me to fly solo as Ryder jumped from his crib a total of 6 times. The first time I went and got him, told him he must stay in his crib, put him down, kissed Chase, and headed out. I knew this was just the beginning. Within seconds he was out again. The thing is, however, it was not Ryder that was causing me distress, it was Chase. Chase was behaving beautifully, laying his head down for bed, quiet, but every time Ryder jumped he would cry out "NO RYDER, DON'T DO THAT!! STAY IN YOUR CRIB." The poor kid got so upset. When I took Ryder back in, not saying a word to him as Jo the Super Nanny says to do, I did not have the heart to ignore Chase, which probably defeated the purpose. I would put Ryder down, then hug Chase, tell him how good of a boy he was being and that it was Ryder misbehaving, but his tears made this game difficult. After Ryder jumped out for the 6th time I decided to ignore him all together. He sat at the top of the steps, where a gate he can't climb over (surprisingly) prevented him from coming down to me. He cried, he begged, he called for me, he told me he did not want to take a nap. I, being mother of the year, ignored my hysterical son. It was not easy, luckily there's such a thing as facebook to take your mind off your screaming child. Within 25 minutes he was asleep, blanket in hand, at the top of the steps. When I went to get him, I looked at him, and despite the hysterics earlier heard, I saw him for what he is, so damn cute!!!

Outta Here

Ryder developed an aversion to his crib. Is aversion the right word for a smiling child who, upon being put into his crib, bursts into a fit of rage with tears and screams like we have never seen? we would pick him up, he would stop crying instantly. Put down....cry, pick up.... quiet. This began on a Saturday night and it resulted in him sleeping on me in our bed after staying up until 1am. That is clearly not a solution. Sunday night we try again. We decide to let him cry it out, like we did when he was an infant. The crying went on for what seemed like hours and just as we were getting good at drowning it out....THUD!!! He climbs out of his crib and greets us at the door of his room. We calmed him, and ourselves, down, assuming it was a one time thing and quietly put him back in his crib only to have him do it again. He then climbed out of his crib anytime he was in there and awake, morning, naps, and nighttime. Ryder is our climber, so technically this kamikaze act is no surprise, but at 17 months we are not ready for a bed, a separation of the boys, or for him to be screaming frantically at bed time. Plus, we are a concerned that the number of times he has landed on his head could affect him later in life.
Against my beliefs, and probably my better judgment, I have resorted to driving around at nap time and letting him fall asleep in bed with me. I am well aware of how bad of an idea this is and we are working on a new solution to keep in safe, and sleeping.