Don't Judge

When we moved into this house (a year and a half ago), we found that it was much easier to have Alex nap in our bedroom rather than his crib, just because the elder noisemakers made it hard for him to stay asleep in that part of the house. As you can imagine, this then led to problems at bedtime since he wanted to sleep where he napped. So we have lived with a compromise ever since: he naps in our room, and he falls asleep at night in our room (when we are out in the living room), and we move him to the crib in his own room when we are ready to go to bed ourselves. Okay, so maybe that is not so much a compromise as it is just us giving up and giving in. What can I say, he's the baby.

(So, no, Shannon, he's not in a bed yet, though I am thinking about going ahead and getting rid of the crib in hopes that a bed of his own might encourage him to fall asleep there, instead.)

If that wasn't bad enough, these days I often lay down with him until he falls asleep. It usually does not take long at all, and I can hardly say no when he is sweetly patting the pillow next to him. So I lay there, phone in hand, often catching up on blog reading or playing sudoku as he drifts off into dreamland.

Last night I was at church at bedtime, and when I got home, Brendon had me go in and take this picture of the boy:

With me not there, he insisted on taking the play phone to bed with him. Brendon said he talked away on it until he finally drifted off.

So, let's wrap up with a summary of what I am teaching my son, shall we?

1) He makes the rules.

2) Manipulation works.

3) And one phone to rule them all.

Maybe it's time to make some changes?

I'll keep you posted.