It's no secret that Builder Boy and bedtime do not get along. With the exception of a handful of months last year, bedtime has always been challenging in the Renovator household. At four months old, we decided it was time to institute a nightly routine. We were still in that phase of ignorance with our new baby that we would be able to create and stick to a schedule on our time frame. Baby would have to deal. It's quite funny to think about now. So, after months of falling asleep on Dada's chest or Mama's breast, Builder Boy embarked on his first official bedtime.
After much kissing and hugging, I took him upstairs, changed the diaper, read him Goodnight, Moon and sang him a song. I swaddled him to the best of my ability (which wasn't much...I suck at swaddling!) and placed him in his cradle. I stayed with him while he fell asleep, folding clothes. This was fine. He did cry, but I was right there, so it didn't last too long. I was feeling rather good about myself after a couple of nights of this. Then, on the fourth night, as I brought out the book, Builder Boy wailed at the top of his lungs. He associated the book with me putting him alone into his cradle. (If you think I'm nuts that a child this young can associate like this...I tried reading the same book to him during the day...he had the same response.) This began an entire lifetime of bedtime battles for Builder Boy.
Builder Boy is the master at dilly-dallying. He can drag out getting a drink of water by turning the faucet on just enough to have the water drip into his cup. Drip....drip....drip....Or he washes his hand inch by inch, scrubbing like a surgeon. Or, he goes to pick a book and agonizes over which one is the perfect book for this particular night. "I just don't know..." he'll say.
Fed up with how long bedtime can be drawn out, I did things a little differently tonight. I took a timer into his room for his bedtime ritual. He had exactly ten minutes to get into his PJ's, brush his teeth, go potty, have a book read to him and get into bed. The deal was, if the timer went off, wherever we were, he would have to go to bed. (He knew he was still required to do the nighttime necessities.) It worked. He flew through his routine, determined to beat the clock. He was successful!
Occasionally, I have a good idea or two. This one worked for tonight. We'll see how long it is before we enter into a new bedtime battle.
Do you have difficulty with bedtime with your kids? What types of things do you do?