Sunday, September 23, 2007

Oh, no. Please no.

Boy Terror has learned a lesson that we were hoping to avoid. His big sister hasn't quite figured it out yet, and so far it's been smooth sailing with him. Until yesterday. Yesterday, he realized that there is no possible way for me to force him to be sleepy. So at nap time, all he has to do is declare himself "not sleepy", and refuse to sleep. He is, right now, lying in bed talking to Puppy. Or Puppy is talking to him. Possibly Puppy is talking to Gorilla. They all have very similar voices, so it's hard to tell them apart. But at any rate, a full conversation is going on, and is showing no signs of stopping. Topics range from "not sleepy" to "how high can you fly?" to "Look out, I'm going to chew on your leg."
I am sleepy. I do not wish to fly, chat, or gnaw on a leg. But no one is asking me.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is dangerous.

Anonymous said...

very cute story/conversation

Anonymous said...

Here's a tip that works a goodly percentage of the time: He must lie on his tummy. He may not lie on his back. He doesn't have to sleep, of course, but he must lie quiestly on his tummy.

It's not foolproof, but for some reason it seems to be qualitatively harder to stay awake when on your tummy than on your back!

Good luck! And if it fails, well, at least the boy's staying put!

Rootietoot said...

Oh dear. Well, at least if he's talking to the animals you know what he's up to.

Anonymous said...

Hi AM--I agree with MaryP, having a child lie on their stomach means they won't have as many visual room distractions. Keeping them quiet, allows them to focus on falling asleep.

If you give over to their "I'm not sleepy" then they become in charge and that's a slippery slope (smile).

I generally will stand next to my little one's bed until she falls asleep--about 10 mins.

The first 5 mins. she settles in and the next 5 she drifts off.

I answer one question and then it's quiet time.

No rolling around the bed, or chatting up a storm.
It's nap time, not playtime.

Good luck, let us know how things go!