Admitting Defeat

The past few nights have been difficult around this house. I work all day and then come home in the evening to The Mr. leaving for work, which is how it has been around here for the past 2 months. (Although, it seems like this has been going on longer than that!) Anyway, the boys have decided not to nap for The Mr. during the day so by the time I get home from work, they are exhausted. They are not the type of exhausted where they want to go to bed or lounge on the couch. They are more the running around like crazy and drive Mommy nuts in order to stay awake type of exhausted.

Well, Thursday night I attempted to get Thing 2 to bed at his usual 7pm bedtime. He was having none of that. He kept getting out of bed and coming into the living room. I kept putting him back in bed. If he did not come into the living room, he was trying to climb into the top bunk into his brother's bed. Of course, with him only being 2, I was not happy with that. Once 8 o'clock came and he still wasn't asleep, I put Thing 1 to bed and took Thing 2 out of the room. (The two of them in the room together awake ends up with much bigger problems.) By 8:30, neither of my children were sleeping and I had tried keeping Thing 2 in the living room on the couch with no TV and the lights off. Here I am, completely exhausted, sitting in the dark in the living room with my oldest in his room playing instead of sleeping and my youngest on the couch next to me talking. I wanted to go to sleep. By 9pm my oldest had finally fallen asleep and my youngest was still awake. I was about to wave a white flag and let him take over the house when he began rubbing his eyes and laying his head on my shoulder. I was able to put him to bed at 9:30 without hearing any complaints.

Friday night wasn't much better. I tried all of the above tactics. I even had Thing 1 in my room watching a movie for awhile to keep him from bothering Thing 2. Thing 2 fell asleep at 9 and Thing 1 fell asleep at 10pm.

Once Saturday came, I was a zombie from not getting enough sleep as the kids didn't sleep in any later after going to bed so late. Thing 2 was up by 6am and Thing 1 was up by 7am. I tried everything on Saturday. I ran them around. We played outside. I took them shopping and to lunch. Thing 2 fell asleep in the car on the way home after shopping but woke up once we got in the door. I tried to convince him that a nap was a good idea. However, once 4pm came, I gave up on the nap in the hopes that Thing 2 would go to bed at his usual bedtime. Seven o'clock came and I began the bedtime ritual of teeth brushing, diaper changing, and book reading. Again, he started with the getting out of bed and coming in to the living room or climbing into his brother's bed. I tried laying in his bed with him at 7:30 hoping that that would keep him in bed long enough to go to sleep. But instead he began beating me up (pulling on my classes, trying to bite me, etc.) so I left him in his room alone. Again, when 8pm came, I put Thing 1 in bed. I tried keeping the boys in the room together but after pulling Thing 2 out of the top bunk twice in less than 5 minutes, I brought him into the living room. Again, I sat in the dark with Thing 2 trying to get him to go to sleep. Again, Thing 1 sat playing in his room until falling asleep at 9pm. I called my mom and asked for advice. What do I do with a child who is refusing to sleep? He is exhausted. He had dark circles under his eyes. My mom suggested I put him in bed with me and see if he goes to sleep. I admit that I was skeptical as when I tried laying with him in his bed he tried to bite me. When Thing 2 saw that we were going in Mommy and Daddy's bed, he got all excited and asked to watch a movie. I told him "No, it's bedtime." He was not happy about that but did lay down with his stuffed dog. While laying in bed at 9pm, I sent my husband the following text:

"I have decided to let the children take over. Who knows what type of government is in store. All I know is I'm tired and they will allow me rest as long as I allow them full access to the fridge and cupboards and give them all the TV they want. Due to my exhaustion, it seems like a fair trade."

Thing 2 did finally fall asleep around 9:30, as did I. Today hasn't been too bad so far. I think they have worn themselves out from staying up so late the past few nights as Thing 2 hasn't been getting into too many things he shouldn't and Thing 1 has been pretty quiet (which is VERY unusual - he talks all the time and always wants something). We shall see if this means they will go to sleep at their bedtime tonight.