More Toddler Bed Trials and Tribulations

I thought it was going to be easy, but that night my husband was at work. At 8:30 I attempted to put monkey girl to bed, but I knew full well going into it that she wasn't at all tired yet (and yes, she had a nap that day in her bed). So I let her play a little longer and around 9:15 I put her back in bed. She was immediately out and I kept grabbing her and putting her back in bed. This went on for almost 30 minutes. Put monkey girl in bed, slightly close door, wait for her to come out, grab her and put her back in bed. Now she's hysterically crying and pleading with me to let her watch TV while laying in our bed. So, I caved. She went to our room, laid down, and fell asleep within 30 minutes. I, being the responsible mommy, ... let her stay there. Dadda monkey came home at 6:30 to find his spot in bed taken.

Not a big deal, I figured, since it's really the only time she's spent a full night in our bed other than vacations. I'd hoped it was a fluke and we wouldn't have any more trouble since she's usually pretty good about bed time. However, the next night she still didn't want to go to bed. This time Dada monkey was home and he caved (we're pretty spineless parents I guess) so she fell asleep in our bed and he carried her to her own bed a little later. Fast forward to 3 am and guess who shows up at my bedside wanting to sleep with us. I pulled her up into bed and when she fell asleep I moved her back to her bed only to find her back at my bedside 10 minutes later. I guess she'd figured out our transferring trick and wasn't a fan of it. She spent the rest of the night with us.

Last night we had the same problem with trying to put her in her bed so she fell asleep while watching TV in our room. We moved her to her bed and she stayed there until 7 this morning. I call that progress and a small victory for Momma and Dadda. Now I've got to figure out the winning strategy for getting her to start the evening in her own bed without feeling like a horrible mommy for letting her scream and cry. I suppose I also forgot to mention that both of our immediate neighbors like to hang out in their front yards and have told me that when my kids cry they can hear them outside. I guess either my kids have great lungs or I need to invest in better windows. Sorry guys, but I'm trying to establish a routine here whether the kids want to cooperate or not. Enjoy the serenade!