Bedtime Blues Turned Bliss

8:30. Absolutely dreadful time. Bedtime. Up until a week ago I avoided it like the plague. Obviously this approach was not an acceptable way to handle such a problem. It turned out that I couldn't completely ignore the fact that we had a serious conundrum brewing around bedtime. Although it would've been much more peaceful, it wasn't an option to let her stay up until midnight reading books and watching Dora and Diego. Darn it. I've written before about our woes but I have yet to share the good news about our solution to this problem. I'm elated...no...BEYOND elated to share about Hal's new bedtime routine. What used to be a very sour, disappointing, sad and frustrating time has now turned into the "night night" that you see in the movies. Ya know, where the kid happily scampers to bed and the mother curls up in bed with the child to read lovely bedtime stories as the child rests her head ever so gently on the mother's shoulder and grins from ear to ear while gazing longingly into the mother's eyes. Ummmm, NO. This was so not how our "night nights" were going. Until now....

.....I had reached my whit's end and spent an entire work day brainstorming about what on earth we were going to do to improve on the madness that had become bedtime. It appeared that it was a phase she was traveling through and we'd just have to withstand the storm. But I just couldn't accept it. I mean I'm telling you....IT WAS BAD. Tears from Hallie and mommy. And I'm sure if Riley thought it acceptable to cry then he would've been shedding some tears as well. BAD. BAD. BAD. Screaming, begging, cup-throwing, gnawing on the crib, screeching, peeing, undressing....the list goes on. I'd had enough.

Last Wednesday night rolled around and a stroke of genius hit me like a ton of bricks. I use the word genius very loosely. Get this...I left the light on. Let me repeat that....I. Left. The. Light. On. That's all. Nothing more. Nothing less. That was the only difference in our routine that evening and ever since that night. Hal and I hugged while heading back to her room (with the light on), I placed her in the crib (with the light on), we named each animal/friend as we placed them neatly on their own blanket (with the light on), read her a book (with the light on), gave her a kiss (with the light on) and walked out of the room....and turned the light off. She had already curled up and closed her eyes before I even left the room. Lights out. Silence. Golden silence. 

This was just another reminder that parenting is such a tricky thing. A trial and error process, I suppose.

I'm thankful that it was something simple....but I'm also a bit disappointed that I've been unable to come up with the answer to the problem until now. Poor girl's been trying to tell me for weeks. I just wasn't able to understand her jibberish. I'm a momma with a gigantic smile on my face come 8:30 these days. It's almost like the movies..minus the lying down beside her part. The smiles, the looking into the eyes, the love, the hugs....that's all happening!!! It's the sweetest thing hearing her say "'gain, 'gain!!" when wanting to re-read a book. She listens quietly with her little head on her froggy pillow and whispers a "night night now" as we leave the room. Sigh....................