What a Night....

While Ben has been in Oklahoma, Ty's bedtime routine has somewhat been altered. Ty tries to come up with every excuse possible to delay going to bed. From complaining that he doesn't feel well, hasn't taken his vitamin, needs some food, water, you get the picture, to "my eyes won't close." By the time all these excuses have been used, I'm completely exhausted. I knew last night that I had to come up with something that would work. Spankings do not seem to phase him (Ben's spankings are much more effective than mine). As I was sharing with my "motherly" teachers at school today, they had some suggestions for me to try. They told me to let him help me make a chart of all the things he "has" to do before going to bed. And let him check them off when they're done. Well, that was the first thing we did this afternoon. He started naming off everything and I was writing them down on his chart. I told him he would get to put a sticker in the box when he finished doing those particular things. Well, he was ready to get ready for bed at 5:00 this afternoon. Just so he could put the sticker in the box. I thought, "this is a good sign."

We also made a calendar for while Ben is gone. We put a sticker on each day that he is gone and this lets Ty see how many more days we have to go before he comes home. This was a big thing for him. He was excited to be able to put all the stickers on the calendar.

I also brought home a little incentive chart that I use with my students at school. I thought we could use it for sleeping through the night in his bed. I told Ty that each morning he wakes up in his bed, he gets to add a sticker to the chart. When we get one row filled up, you guessed it, we're headed to Wal-Mart. He 's going to get a surprise. I know that's probably a bad mama, but at this point I'm desperate for anything to work. I told Ben on the phone, that something has got to change. So.......... at 7:30 tonight we were getting baths and at 8:00 we had all of our "things to do" checked off of our list and were in the bed!!!!!!!! Yes!!!!!!!! By the way, when he said he just couldn't close his eyes, I was ready. I told him that we could find some special glasses that would help him close his eyes. Well, he really liked this idea and went straight to his toys and found a HUGE pair of glasses that had come in his McDonald's Happy Meal. They were hideous, but hey, they worked. We called them his "Special Spectacles." I left him with the specs on his face and went to my bathroom to get a shower and get clothes ironed for tomorrow. When I got out of the shower there was silence. I decided I'd go take a peek and see if he was really asleep or just waiting for me. He was definitely asleep and yes the glasses were still on. I went for my camera to take his picture and he roused up. I knew it was too good to be true. He started crying out for me that he needed his mommy. Well, I went in and laid with him and he reminded me that we had not said our night-night prayers. After saying prayers, he still didn't want me to leave him. He was still trying to use the excuse that he just couldn't close his eyes. He put his glasses back on, I said "Good night," and walked out. He's been asleep ever since. Hopefully this is going to help me have some sanity. By the way, Andrew has been asleep since about 7:45 and hasn't made a peep! Let's just hope Big Brother can get back in his routine!

These were taken over the last several weeks. While cleaning out Andrew's closet, Ty hopped into Andrew's bed and they were having a good time together. Andrew loves his brother! He loves to watch Ty do anything and will laugh at all of his silly sounds and faces!

Andrew thinks he's a big boy in his new Bumbo! His legs are almost too fat to even fit in it!

First cereal feeding. I think he likes it!

I thought this was so sweet. This is what I see every afternoon I get home. Andrew is passed out on Pops. Sometimes Pops is passed out too!