Sheer Determination

I learned something new about my son last night. That sweet, spunky, and loving little boy has more determination in his little head than I have ever seen in his almost 23 months of life. Last night was night three of bed time in his new bed. The first two nights he cried a bit and needed lots of loves and snuggles but last night topped them both. No tears, no sadness...just sheer determination that he was NOT GOING TO BED. We put him in bed around 8 and Jay read a bunch of books with him. About 8:20 we kissed him goodnight, turned out the light and left him. He chatted a bit in bed and then decided he didn't want to be in his bed anymore. For the next two hours he got out of his bed probably 35 times.

You may be wondering what we did when he continued to disobey and get out of bed. What do you do to a 22 month old with more freedom than he might be ready for at night time?

We started out being nice and just softly telling him he had to stay in bed. We even left the hall light on and his door cracked so he could see a little, which by the way worked the night before. We continued to pick him up and put him in his bed and remind him that he could not get out again, he needed to obey mommy and daddy, etc, etc... Each time we got a little more firm and not quite as nice. We then tried "super nanny" style where we didn't say a word, just plopped him in his bed and walked out. Each and every time with our attempts, seconds after we walked out of his room he was back at the door opening and closing it. He rarely came out to the living room but he would just stand at his door opening and closing it and peeking out into the hall.

After at least 30-45 minutes of this (with one attempt to lay with him) we threatened a spanking. That did nothing because he was up again as soon as we walked out. We then spanked him each time he got up, which caused lots of tears and the slight breaking of mommy's heart. This attempt also did NOTHING! Even when the spanking really hurt and he cried, he still continued to get up. By this time it's been at least two hours and Jay and I are literally at a complete loss as to what to do next. So we gave in and Jay went and laid with him until he fell asleep, thus giving him exactly what he wanted. I am telling you all now that last night was the most frustrating night we have ever had with Carter! He is such an amazing sleeper who has always gone down without needing anything! We could always just lay him in his crib and then he would talk to himself for a few minutes and fall fast asleep. What happened?!?!?!

Lord, please let my good sleeper come back to me! Once he was asleep he slept until 8:20 this morning but it was so incredibly difficult to get him to sleep. We were so close to putting him back in his crib last night! If we didn't have a little girl coming in nine weeks we would not be forcing this so hard. We would just let him stay in his crib a while longer. But, we have no choice. We have to get him used to this before Madelynn comes! He has been amazingly perfect for nap time for over a week so I really didn't think night time would be this difficult.

For all of you moms that have experienced this transition with your toddler, I am up for words of advice and wisdom! Please comment if you have suggestion for me! I'll take all the help I can get in this area.