For background info as to why I’m parenting alone, read my other post here.
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Oh gosh, well that couldn’t have gone any worse.
Some of you, who see my Facebook posts, will know that while my husband is away, I am trying to get my kids to go to bed earlier.
Well I had them in bed by 8pm and it was a SUCCESS! My boy (2) was fast asleep within minutes, and my girl (4) took maybe an hour to go to sleep. But in all honesty, not going to sleep straight away isn’t an issue.
What happened during the night, that was an issue.
I got to sleep at 9pm, and by 1am, my boy started waking up. So I went in, picked him up, comforted him and put him back down. He was happy.
I lay down.
2 minutes later, my daughter woke up. She had a nightmare. I resettled her.
I lay down.
5 minutes later, my son woke up again (well actually I don’t think he went back to sleep), and this time he was saying “Lounge, lounge”, meaning he wanted to go into the lounge. When this happens, I just say “No, no lounge”, and I hold him until he says “ok bed”. So when this happened, I put him back down.
I lay down.
2 minutes later, my daughter calls out for me again – her legs hurt. I think she has growing pains – which means there’s not much I can do. She is visibly in pain and uncomfortable. I try and resettle her, and in the mean time hear my boy screaming.
So I go into my boy and I pick him up and he says “Lounge, LOUNGE!”, to which I say “you either sit with me in my arms, while I hold you. Or you go back to bed”. He keeps saying “Lounge”. So I sit down on the floor with him (this works, weirdly enough), and after a few seconds, he says “bed”.
BUT when I go to put him to bed, he pitches a fit, and by this stage I’M OVER IT. So I say to him, “No I am putting you down now and you are to go back to sleep.” to which he started screaming more.
I could hear my daughter screaming too.
It’s 1.30am.
So, FED UP, I put my son down and say “see you tomorrow morning”. I leave and shut the door (like normal).
I then go into my daughter and she’s hysterical because of her sore legs, so I say “ok come into bed with me, try and ignore your brother who is screaming”.
You know what?!
That little stubborn boy screamed and cried for 2 hours. That seems cruel, but once I start down a path of “I’m not coming to get you” I HAVE to continue it. Otherwise he will be getting what he wants.
And I needed sleep.
Turns out, I didn’t sleep, because I was listening out for him waiting for him to sleep,
5am rolls around, and I get him and take him into the lounge.
He’s TWO now, so I feel like he 10000% understands what I’m saying. He’s not sick. He knows what he is doing. The moment I sit on a chair with him, he falls asleep. FML.
Aaaah I don’t know if what I did was right or wrong, but SERIOUSLY!? NIGHT ONE!!??
