Magic!

Our children are pretty good sleepers. It's been a work-in progress, but I think we have mastered this very challenging parental task. At least for now, until we move to a new home and have a baby, and then we will start all over again. Every so often they may wake up and I usually relish in this time and enjoy the extra snuggles and rock-a-byes in the middle of the night. Sometimes I deal with just one child, sometimes with both. Notice how I say "I"? I won't say that I "always" get up with the kids, because Tyler and I have agreed to remove that word from our vocabulary when we are talking about each other, so I will say about 99% of the time I get up with the kids. Anyway, these midnight lovey times started to include:

A) extra long rock-a-bye sessions that wouldn't lead to sleeping which would then turn to
B) children joining us in bed, which isn't my favorite, so I started to
C) put them back to bed awake....

Makenzie has been accepting of this and will go back to sleep. Jordan on the other hand has had a problem. He screams and cries and throws in all out tantrum, which doesn't happen at any other going-to-bed time. I hate for that to go on for too long at night, because then the whole household will be awake much longer. So what was I to do? The experts tell me to let him cry it out... and eventually over time his tantrums will lessen, yada yada yada.

Well a few weeks back, for some reason, my husband decided to actually get up and help me with the situation. In his low and groggy "you woke me up" voice, he told Jordan, "Lay down." Jordan quickly obeyed as Tyler tucked him in with his favorite blanket. We both left the room and didn't hear a peep from him until morning! That was all it took... Dad going in there to lay down the law! I was appalled... it was magic!

So since then, Jordan has gotten up a few more times, and each time I shake my husband out of his slumbering sleep so he can work his magic! It is so simple that it makes me laugh... He does the same thing by using his low serious voice and telling him to go to sleep. Now I wish all the other parental challenges were that easy to conquer!