Ah the bedtime drama

Of all the things I would do differently if I could, our sleeping arrangements top the list. I can list of all the reasons that I wanted Emmy Ruth in our bed and all the fabulous memories I have of just staring at her sleep, but I can't tell how many times I have been stabbed with guilt for having to break her of this now. We have gone all across the board in techniques for getting her in her bed, from just telling her good night and leaving, to staying until she goes to sleep and then leaving to trying to let her go to sleep and then putting her in her bed. She wakes up when we move her or she cries for two hours that she doesn't want to sleep in there or she just cries and cries and cries. More than once, I have felt like my mother when I cry out "I don't care where you go to sleep, JUST GO TO SLEEP!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Right now, you can't even get in her room because she has a Dora tent in there where she often sleeps. A few nights ago, when we checked on her at 3am, she was asleep on the hardwood floor, and I can't help but think of that poor child just calling her for her mommy and me not coming and her just giving up hope and collapsing on the floor with a broken heart, full of exhaustion. If she doesn't have the confidence to get into Harvard, I will blame it on this one incident that has marked her life forever.

She does have the confidence to tell us what to do though. There is a lot of bossiness going on here, and we are really trying to get this under control. I often tell her that she needs to ask me to do something nicely, so she says "get me some juice, nicely". Cute kid....