Lucy's Bed Time Drama

Lucy has had a rather crazy evening. When bath time came around, she did not want to go upstairs. She said, "I'm too hungry, I want another snack." Note she said "another" because she already had plenty to eat at dinner and two snacks afterward. She might have been more convincing if she had gone into the kitchen to point at some food rather than just lie down on the floor and refuse to move. I told her it was bath time so she changed her story to "I don't want to go to bed, I have no energy to sleep." So I carried her upstairs.

She walked into the bathroom under her own power and started the bath time routine with Mommy. She wasn't really interested in staying though. She dumped some bubbles on Jacob's head and told Mommy, "I was naughty, take me out!" Normally she only gets pulled out if she dumps a cup of water on Jacob's head after he has asked her not to. She apparently couldn't be bothered to find a cup for water and scooped up what she could to cause trouble. Jacob didn't complain but she insisted. So out she came.

Jacob was still in the tub. I therefore was on pajama duty for Lucy. She wasn't interested in this either. She demanded Mommy. I explained that Mommy was still washing Jacob and we could have fun getting PJs on. Her idea of fun and mine weren't exactly the same. First she picked her monkey pajamas. Then her princess pajamas. Finally she saw one of Jacob's old pajamas in her drawer and demanded them as her favorite. The PJs with dinosaurs driving cars are her new favorite. Yeah, right. I dressed her in those pajamas, which did fit her fairly well. At least she was satisfied and might settle down.

She brought some books into Mommy and Daddy's room for bed time reading. I tried to start reading with her. She told me that she had no energy to sleep. I said that was okay since we were only reading. She failed to acknowledge the logic of my statement and insisted that she didn't have the energy for anything. I said she could either read books or go straight to bed. She again insisted that she didn't have enough energy to sleep. I toyed with the idea of explaining how you don't need energy to sleep but I doubted my patience and her receptivity. By that time Jacob was done bathing, wearing his pajamas, and reading stories with Mommy. When I finally picked her up to carry her to her bed, she decided she did have the energy to listen to stories.

When stories were done it was back to the "no energy to sleep" argument. I carried her to her room and put her in bed. She stood up and said she doesn't like sleeping and jumped up and down to prove how little energy she had. I said I would stay with her. Turning off the light, I laid her down in my lap. That usually works to calm her down and get her snoozy. After five or ten minutes, she was groggy enough to get into bed and stay there. I spent another fifteen minutes lying next to her bed while she started to doze off.

I went downstairs and my wife and I watched a little TV on the BBC iPlayer (Hustle is in Series 8, really?). After that, my wife went upstairs and heard snoring, even through the kids' doors. Turning on a light, she discovered Lucy lying in the hallway asleep and making enough noise for both children. She couldn't figure out how she got there or why she didn't come downstairs after getting out of her room. I came up and carried her to bed again. Hopefully she sleeps through the night. In her own bed. And has some energy in the morning.