Entry FeedMy daughter is officially smarter than her father. You see, today she was tired, so she put herself to bed.
This is something that her father, over 30 years older and much more experienced with sleep, cannot do.
I don't get it. My husband really can't put the kids to bed. Since we had kids, his theory has always been that eventually they will be tired enough to fall asleep, and then he can pick them up and carry them to bed. Great. Except now we have a 7 year old who is 70 lbs. When I go out, I actually come home as late as possible because I want to increase my chances that all of the kids are asleep. Weeknights with Daddy that could be 10:30 pm.
We've had this argument, I mean, discussion, dozens of times since Son One was born. I believe that our kids need to get to bed at a decent time with a normalized bedtime routine. In seven years this hasn't happened. One of my points in favour of earlier bedtimes is that we could spend some quiet husband/wife bonding time together. Not enticing enough of an argument to be persuasive to Husband.
Husband grew up with a bed in his kitchen (???) and would often nap there after breakfast. Obviously, when it comes to sleep, we are from different planets.
Now, we have some complications. Husband works shifts, and is only actually here for bedtimes a little more than half the time. The problem is that when he is around for bedtime, he isn't often around for morning, so he doesn't deal with the impact of the laissez-faire bedtimes.
Here is Daughter, who was tired this afternoon, so she put herself to bed.
Daughter had a trying afternoon, which accounts for her nap need. She had her ballet class, and we were running late because I stopped to talk to another mom I know on the way there (my kids really hate that, BTW). The teacher went to close the door, and waved to my daughter saying, "See you in a minute!"
Daughter interpreted the wave as her teacher saying 'good-bye' so she thought she wasn't allowed in class. I carried her in, but she refused to participate for the first 25 minutes. She sat in the middle of the floor and pouted. (What a drama queen! I would have pouted in the corner.) With 5 minutes left she decided to participate, and all was well. But the drama did exhaust her out.
Because of the nap, she will be up late tonight. This means, of course, that she will be tucked in beside me as I watch Private Practice. And when she falls asleep I will have Daddy carry her to bed.