Swim diapers don’t actually work as pull-ups, bee-tee-double-u

Oh man, guys.  Bedtime last night was killer.  I’m pretty much against it anyway.  Well, not so much the bedtime as the bedtime routine.  Yes, for the most part I treasure the time spent one on one with each child, but it’s kind of hard to remain focused when all you want to do is run downstairs and collapse into a heaping pile of wine and knitting.  

It’s just the constant stalling and excuses and fighting just to make the kids do what their bodies are telling them is essential.  And all that screaming – that just tells me that it’s past time for you to GO TO SLEEP YOU LITTLE MONSTER!

Last night both kids fell asleep on the way home from my in-laws house – at around 6.  I thought it would be fine because it had happened before with no problem.  

When we got home Sebastian woke up – sort of – and stumbled inside.  When I emptied the car of our various bags and the other offspring and came inside this is what I saw:

Shocking, never-before seen occurrance.

Now, this NEVER happens.  That child will fight sleep and doesn’t just fall asleep wherever he is.  He has to be in bed, usually at the very least for 30-45 minutes before winding down.  There is no ‘falling asleep while playing.’  There definitely isn’t ever any ‘let’s lay down on the couch with a blanket and get some shut-eye.’

So I was surprised, to say the least.  It was only about 6:30-6:45 but I thought I’d try to take him up to bed since he was so tired. 

I picked him up, blanket and all, and carried him upstairs.  I could tell he had woken up but he was still not fully awake.  

And that was the end of the easiest part of my evening.

Upstairs I had neglected to remember that I was completely out of pull-ups.  Since Sebastian hadn’t gone to the bathroom before he fell asleep I knew that we’d have a super mess if I left him how he was and I didn’t want to deal with that at 3 in the morning.  

But I did remember that I had some swim diapers downstairs and figured they’d work just as well.  So I carried him back downstairs, hoping to keep him drowsy.

By the time I climbed the stairs for a second time (holding a 35 pound child) he was up.  And pissed off.  He didn’t want me to change his pants and he didn’t want me to cover him up and mostly he didn’t want me to leave the room.  He let me know this by screaming at the top of his lungs.  Because otherwise I wouldn’t have known, you know?

We decided to let him get out of bed and watch a short show, hoping to calm him down enough to be able to put him in bed without so much fuss.  And it seemed to be going well.  I put Adele to bed in the mean time, which was relatively simple.

When it was Sebastian’s turn – again – he was reluctant to go.  I did get him upstairs but when I refused to read him a third story the fires and hounds of hell were summoned and fury was released and most definitely war was waged.  

And so I turned out the light and left.

But then went back 5 minutes later and tried to calm him down and find a toy or something to ‘make me feel better!’

And left.

But went back 5 minutes later.  

Repeat.

Finally around 8:30 I decided to take a shower and hope that the situation would resolve itself, maybe with a little help from Chris, by the time I was finished.

Do you think that worked?  If you have a 3 year old you probably know that it didn’t.

I gave it some time.  I tried to ignore the constant screaming.  I prayed that that wouldn’t wake up my new-favorite child who was sleeping peacefully.

I caved when he started in with the ‘Help me Mommy!  Help me Mommy!  HELP ME MOMMY!!!’

I climb the stairs again and walk in to a tearful ‘I NEED MY MOMMY TO MAKE ME FEEL BETTER!’

Oh geez.  Way to rip my heart out and fling it against the wall, little man.

So I just lay down with him and cuddled a little and in 10 minutes he had fallen asleep.  

It was an awful and ridiculous situation to have happen.  The stress was above the level it needed to be for me to function as a rational person.

But as I watched him fight to keep his eyes open and burrow down into my arms, all the anger and frustration left.  

How sweet to have a reason to watch him fall asleep again, to get to hold him and rub his back while he does so.

I think I needed him to make me feel better, too.