Patience vs. Posting

Tonight's post is more out of my own entertainment. I am bored. There are only so many things that you can do while you try to teach a 2-year-old boy to go to bed "on his own" that don't get him stirred up with curiosity. I can't move around much - he'll want to watch me and eventually adopt the mentality that as long as he is moving less than me, his movement isn't really thaaaat bad. That's not gonna work. (Oh, I should add here that I'm venturing on my own because my parental teammate has an obligation out ot the house tonight. No, he is not watching football downstairs while I figure out this evening.) I can't finish steam-cleaning the carpets (yes, the motivation to accomplish and succeed that was gained from stopping my hiccups mid hic havent worn off) because he had so much fun with the steam-cleaner before bed that he wound himself up to this state of havoc. I can't do dishes from dinner tonight because...well, that can't be blamed on tonight. I just don't like doing dishes tonight. So instead of checking off all of the things I wanted to do tonight, I have sat in the hallway staring at the not-so-varied-or-interesting panels on his bedroom door. I have ripped apart a few more Real Simple magazines (part of my grand de-hoarding scheme). I have folded some laundry. I have turned lights on to make him feel safe. I have turned lights off so he can't see to go anywhere else. And now I am sitting in his doorway being large and in charge, literally. He can't get past me.

 

I have to say, this kid is amazingly good at entertaining himself.  Most of you know already that he could sort crayons, colored paper clips, or marbles for hours on end.  But tonight was a new level of self-entertainment (I wish it would rub off on me.) He went to his room (I started to say "he went to bed" but we all know that would have instantly discredited this entire rant) wearing "Lightning McQueen" pajama pants and a "Spider Man" pajama shirt. At one point he came out wearing a shark bathing suit over his pants. At another point, he came out wearing his germ mask from visiting Gramdaddy at the hospital. At yet another point, when I decided to sit right in front of his closed door so when he opened it I would be right in his face and spook him into not opening his door, I heard the door open maybe a centimeter. All I could see were a little glistening eye and a round, awfully cute nose. It was like a picture of a little nocturnal rodent in a 6th grade biology textbook. But that cuteness certainly didn't buy him any new tricks and DEFINITELY didn't carry over when I found him in his sister's room 2 minutes later. He wandered on in after I had gone back to my room, turned on the lights, and made himself at home. He had no problem taking a chance on waking his sister while he helped himself to the fabulous resources of her Disney princess makeup table. When I scooped him up to take him back to his room, he looked at me as if he really just wanted to ask me if he could do my lipstick. Needless to say, my kids are night owls by nature. We've trained one to almost enjoy going to sleep, and I wish for the life of me I could remember how. Actually, part of the success might have been due to her father putting it right out on the table and telling her she will end up with bags under her eyes if she doesn't get enough sleep. Hey, it worked.  But for now, my new little media hobby seems to be doing more good in my life than I expected because, while typing this, he fell asleep...