Bedtime Smackdown!

Let's just say that the Nanny 911 "back to bed" bull crap does NOT work in this house. Ever since before Christmas, bedtime has gotten progressively worse and has practically disintegrated into a contest of wills. I don't' know if it's been due to the excitement of the holidays, the fact that James has been off his schedule, Daddy changing shifts, Mommy being sick or a combination of all those things.

Back to this week... but tonight especially. ~insert eye roll here~

James kept getting up, and getting up and getting up.... and MOCKING us about getting up. It would be one thing if he was still awake, quietly playing with a toy in bed or reading a book... but he was banging trains on his train table, jumping from the bed, "using the potty". Hubs and I were tag teaming it.... and James kept getting up, flipping light switches, running water in the sink, ect. I lost count of the # of trips I have made up and down the stairs.

So, finally fed up, I went up to James's room, sat him down on his bed, looked him straight in his eyes and told him that the next time he got up ALL his toys were going OUT of his room, and that Mommy was NOT kidding.

I barely made it down the stairs when I saw the landing/stair lights flashing on and off. So I grabbed my toy rake (the mini rake that I use to rake all the toys into a pile when cleaning), marched purposefully up to his room and said "You want the lights on, buddy? Ok... I'll turn your lights on... so you can see me remove all your toys!"

He thought it was funny, watching me push his train table out the door and rake and throw toys out onto the landing...

That is.....

Until I ripped the the plug to the Christmas tree lights out of the wall and chucked the whole tree, lights, garland, ornaments and all into the hall. It was a beautiful sight, watching that 4 ft tree arc out the door, let me tell you! I felt released of all the tension of a month's worth of sassy mouths and non-listening ears!

He stood up on his bed and started SCREAMING!! I tossed every train, car, Lego, mega block, Easter egg, EVERYTHING out the door (Hubs almost got hit several times, lol... but that was his fault for standing in the line of fire!)

James got to keep his teddy bear Remus, and I left all the books on the shelves.... but I cleared his floor, his bookcase headboard, the shelf and his closet of allllll the toys. I told him that if he laid down, and stayed in his bed that he could have his toys back in the morning.... but if he got up and didn't listen to Mommy that they would be going in the trash. (as if! We all know I'm too cheap for that!! Thank goodness *he* hasn't figured that out yet!)

All the toys are now sitting on my landing.... which is about 6x6 and has 4 doors and a stairway that opens up into it. James sat on his bed screaming the entire time I sat outside his door organizing the toys (so we could actually get into the rooms upstairs)

Then he kept yelling "I need a HUG!! I NEED a HUG!" I told him he could wait until I was done sorting the toys. I know this sounds harsh, but he was more upset that I wasn't dropping everything and rushing to his side, than he was wanting a hug.... if that makes sense.

And when I was done, I went in there and asked him why he thought I took his toys away. He got it right in one (smart kid). I told him that HE made the choice to have me remove all his toys by his behavior.... and it was HIS choice whether or not he would get them back in the morning. You could totally see the wheels turning in that brilliant little brain of his. And what do you know?? The tears magically dried up! I asked him what he needed to do to get his toys back, just to make sure he understood. He told me that he needed to lay down nicely until he went to sleep. EUREKA!! He got it!! He got his hugs and a kiss before Mommy went back downstairs.

15 minutes later.... all was silent.

Hubs thinks that I'm going to have a rough time getting James to bed this week while he's gone for training.






I have a feeling bedtime the rest of this week is going to be cake.