DJ and Bed Time!

The last couple of weeks have NOT been fun putting DJ to bed. I think I've mentioned before that he's entered into the "terrible 2's" stage. It has not been fun. He's decided that he doesn't like going to bed. So frustrating. He was so good at it before. My girls are the easiest to put to bed. But, my mom had to remind me today that we went through this stage with the girls too. I read through some of my old blog books and sure enough we did. It was basically Cadence. It amazes me how much DJ and Cadence are alike. She had a hard time settling down and going to sleep and that's the same as DJ. I don't mind them reading books or quietly playing in their beds but he always comes out of his room, again, and again, and again, and again........you get the idea!

My very cute little boy helping me make cookies with his sisters. He insisted on wearing a apron, since everyone else was! So cute!

Well after a very frustrating time putting DJ to bed last night I decided, enough is enough. When we went through this with Cadence I bought a book on sleeping for kids. It's called, "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child". Anyways, very interesting. Since he is older I skipped to the chapters that are for older kids. So I got the strategy that I'm going to use and got things ready today. I explained it to DJ this afternoon, instead of while he's mad and upset at me tonight. Not sure if he totally understood what was going to happen, but at least he knew what was up. He watched me switch the bathroom (locking) and his bedroom door knobs. I put 3 pieces tape down on his floor so he each time he comes out I shut the door to that tape line. On the forth time, the door is shut and locked. It sounds so mean, but we've tried everything. The book also emphasized to do his normal bed routine with him and after the 1st time laying him down don't have a conversation with him. So when he came out the 2nd, 3rd and 4th time I just gently picked him up and tucked him back in his bed. On the 4th time I put him on the potty first so he could pee then I layed him down. I wasn't very excited about doing this, but knew we had to do something.

He didn't have a nap today (naps have been horrible too) and I knew he was so tired. So at 6:15 I started his bed routine with him. He brushed his teeth, went to the bathroom and I read him some stories. Then we said prayers and I tucked him in with his sippy cup (only time he gets it). I reminded him if he gets out the door eventually be shut. Then I sat on the couch and waited. Richard had taken the girls downstairs so it was quiet up here. He played for awhile then he came out. Anyways that happened 4 times. I then shut the door and locked it. It took him about a minute to realize the door was locked, then he started screaming. I started timing how long it would take. I felt so bad. This is why we haven't done this yet, because we both hate it. Richard was more opposed to it then I was. We put the girls to bed, Cadence went to bed in our room. I was almost ready to cry, because he was screaming, "mum, mum, da eeee (how he says daddy)". So sad. Then exactly 15 mins into his screaming it all of the sudden went silent. I waited for it to start up again, but it stayed quiet. I waited about 20 mins and then I opened his door and he had put himself back into bed and tucked himself in and was sound asleep. The lights were on and he had pulled out all the plugs he could find and had books and toys on his bed. But he was asleep! My cute boy sound asleep. If you look closely to the left you can see my duct tape fix-it job on the railing!

So it took about 45 mins from starting his bed routine to DJ falling asleep tonight and only 15 mins of screaming. Compare that to 2 1/2hrs last night of trying to get him to go to sleep, so frustrating. He just woke up crying and sad but we tucked him in and cuddled him and he went back to sleep. Probably bad dreams from screaming himself to sleep. Hopefully he'll sleep good tonight. That's the thing, when DJ finally goes to sleep he usually sleeps through the night, except when he gets up to go bathroom. So I'm hoping that after a few more nights he'll be going to bed better.

I felt horrible and decided to write a post on this while I was listening to him scream. But now it's silent and everyone is asleep....oh so nice! Oh, another sad thing that happened to DJ is the last 2 mornings he's woken up at about 5:30am SCREAMING. When we went running into his room on both mornings he was laying on his stomach with his head stuck through a hole in his bed rail thing (so he doesn't roll off his bed). The mesh part had a hole in it, so I put it on his bed so the hole was near his feet. But my little boy is a CRAZY sleeper and goes everywhere. My mom says he got that from me. Says I was a crazy sleeper even when I was a teenager. I do admit that I gave myself a black eye once while I was sleeping. I was in high school, so yes I moved around a bit! ha ha! Anyways, I came in this morning to see his head stuck through the hole again. Sad to see, but after he's calmed down and back asleep, a little bit funny! Richard asked me to fix it today. I was trying to think of a way to fix it when I thought of a brilliant way. Duct tape! It worked perfectly! So now he won't wake up with his head stuck. Who knows, maybe he'll get his head stuck through the bars of the ladder now. Hopefully not, but I wouldn't be surprised, because that kid is a crazy sleeper!

There, I'm done my long post on DJ's sleeping. I'm hoping, fingers crossed, that it works and things will get better. You know it's bad when we try to think of an excuse to have a babysitter to come over so she can put the kids to bed! For some reason DJ went to bed with no problem for the babysitters. Crazy boy! I thought of getting a wig and dressing up as someone else in order to put him to bed. Don't laugh, I was quite serious about it. Yup, I was that desperate.

OK this is an add on to this post. It's now Sunday morning and I just have to write down how good DJ did last night. Richard had to put the kids to bed by himself because I was helping out at reception last night. We talked before I left so he knew to do the same thing. When I got back he told me that DJ did great. Richard did DJ's bed time routine with him and tucked him into bed. DJ wanted some milk, so Richard went to get some. He could hear DJ kind of half whining and crying at his doorway (not out of his room). Richard told him to get in bed so the door wouldn't have to be closed. He then came down the hallway to DJ's room and DJ was laying there all tucked in! He took his milk and Richard never heard a peep after that! He stayed in bed. So he slept from 6:30pm to 6:45am! YEAH! I think that was his problem, we were putting him to bed too late. I'm very excited that it's working! He's a smart little boy!