Saturday, 24 March 2012

When Small People Won't Go To Bed. And Steam Comes Out Your Ears.


I am like this hamster running on one of those wheels. Running. Running. Running. And getting nowhere fast. 


Tiny is totally punishing me lately. 


All week she's been a reluctant sleeper, there have been raised voices. There's been hollow threats. And a threat of punishment (and I struggle with this because I can't think of anyway to punish her - because her response is always so non-chalant).  Once she's finally wrestled down to sleep - I find myself in the middle of the night pushed to the edge of the bed - with no covers on me. Cold, uncomfortable, and with no pillow.


This week her bed linen had been changed after an accident, and had literally been replaced, when she came out to me and told me her bed was wet. 


She denied denied denied, then blamed it on the Doctor and said he wee'd on her bed. I told her that the Doctor didn't do it (because I know the Doctor better than she does), finally she admitted that no, the Doctor had nothing to do with it. Instead she had been playing with water on her bed, and now her doona was wet through. 


I was pretty cross. 


It was one of those nights when you're like a jack-in-a-box, up and down, up and down, putting the smalls back into bed. Then they come out again. And so on for around 15 minutes. Then the steam starts to pour out your ears, and you walk them back and tell them once more - don't come out again. It's late. It's bed time. 


So this is where we were. I stripped the bed again when there was an almighty crash. I peer into the Doctor's bedroom and he's inadvertently smashed his bedside lamp. Glass everywhere.


If someone was checking my blood pressure, I think that cuff thing they put on would have been torn to shreds as I turned into the Incredible Hulk. 


Seriously. The bed humdrum is killing me. And not softly. 
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Images - despite being totally unrelated were something that made the smalls and I laugh today. We went to visit my sister, Sarah at Calico + Ivy today, and en route to get some smoothies, we spotted a plane vapour trailing his way through the sky. 'Marry Me'. We stood with our mouths agape looking skyward, causing other pedestrians to do the same. By the time the pilot got to me the marry had blown away and looked like a mangled version of the word. Whoever commissioned that - I hope they got in quickly. 

6 comments:

Cat said...

I hate those parenting "moments" (hours?) that bring out the worst in me. So hard to bloody "keep calm & carry on" when all you want to do is scream or cry or hide away somewhere & leave them to whatever makes them carry on like pork chops! Snaps to you for surviving and stopping to notice the writing in the sky! I hope next week is much better for you all.

Sally said...

OMG! I so hear you. Our Ms. 3 is really doing all our heads in here too. So many challenges, so much boundary testing, so easily losing her cool, so jealous of her baby brother, so competitive with her older brother... and it goes on ...

*breathe*

We both know it will pass. Hang in there as best you can.

Michelle said...

Oh dear, sounds like a horror night for you poor love. I hope things get better soon, and you have a chance to walk off that steam.

x

Leonie said...

Counting is a good, low stress replacement for yelling. Over here we count down so the kid knows when the 1 is coming, there are no halves. First though they are told the consequences if they do not comply by 1. Generally the removal of something they personally love doing: Playing with dolls=no dolls tomorrow, playing with cars=no cars. Never threaten a punishment you aren't willing to follow through on, and it has to be something they car about but you don't so don't take away screen time if it's the only sanity time you get. Some kids work better with earning stuff. Like if you go to bed and stay there tonight=tomorrow we can do this, or two nights=this etc. Depends on which way your kids work. The most challenging thing is that if adults behaved like this you could let it rip at them but for kids you have to keep under control. It is hard. You will get there. Good luck.

Bek said...

Oh, bed time shenanigans! By bed time, my patience has all but run out. I had these pre-child fantasies of bed time being this beautiful snuggly loving time with my children complete with bedtime stories and a kiss and a cuddle, switching off the light and the little one rolling over, teddy in arms, and heading off to dreamland without delay...! Reality is a little different! I'm not looking forward to when we put Eve in a bed, monkey business with multiply 10 fold, I'm sure!

I hope your evenings improve! We have had some success at times with our older two with rewards for not coming out.

Lady Moss said...

Crazy! We were in the Botanical Gardens and say the sky writing!! The lucky lady's name was Jen and she said yes!
Lol
LMx