Bedtime

Bedtime used to be one of my favorite times of day.  For obvious and not so obvious reasons.  The obvious being that I like to sleep myself and James' bedtime put me closer to mine, I like to have some adult time to unwind and talk to Adam without interruption, and I really like knowing that James is getting the rest his growing body needs.

And then we get into the not so obvious reason - James is (was?) awesome at bedtime.  After about 15 months, we took away his night time sippy (so that brushing his teeth at bed was actually accomplishing something) and bedtime was a breeze.  Snuggle in the chair, look at a book and wait for James to ask to go to bed.  Literally.  James would point upstairs and say "bed?" and then I'd take him up there and he'd fall asleep.

It was amazing.

And now its over.  Ok, I don't know for sure that its over, but it seems over.  We do all the same things and James does all the same things.  Except now, after he asks to go to bed and gets up there - he freaks out.  Screams.  Cries.  Yells.  He does not want to go to bed.

I know this is fairly normal.  I know he's been teething, which certainly doesn't help (and may even be the only reason for this change).  And I know that I can't complain when I've had so many good months.  But those good months make this even more difficult.

When he cries, we let him go for awhile.  He is old enough to "cry it out" but he's too stubborn to actually do it.  So we snuggle with him in his room, I sing a few rounds of Twinkle, twinkle and we hope for the best.  Its been taking between 15 - 60 minutes for James to go down for the last week.  After awhile, he settles down and falls asleep.  Whoever is in his room quietly sneaks out and we spend the next half hour holding our breath that he's actually asleep.

If this is a teeth issue, I hope its resolved soon.  If this is a toddler issue, I hope it doesn't last long.

Momma needs her sleep too, James.