After All Day...

After a day of a high strung child, yelling and screaming about eating, about using the potty, about waking up from his nap, about not getting his way, about only letting him eat 700 million raisins. Running around the room at a million miles per hour, desperate to pin him to get on his nighttime diaper, never mind his pajamas. Struggling to get his freshly cleaned sheets on the bed, to help get the sickness out of the house.

Then choosing to run up and down the bed instead of sitting down to listen to a story. We give up and tell him that we aren't going to read anything more. Shut his beloved Froggy book. Of course he SCREAMS! It's his way or no way! I wrestle the boy up in my tired arms and haul him onto the rocking chair. He struggles as I sing a few bars, and as Daddy gets his quilt adjusted on the bed. Then the lights turn off.

The past few nights I've done something different. Stories didn't fully calm him down. Me hanging out with him for awhile after didn't either. So a few nights ago, I started just holding and rocking him for awhile before laying him down in bed. And with the lights off, the stars on his ceiling glow. So far every night I've managed to tell him a different story. I've got the lights mapped out in my head. The corner by the tree is Sir Topham Hatt. Percy's drives down by the door. Thomas is of course right above his head. Tonight, Percy had an exciting day delivering mail, and as he parked next to Thomas, he asked him about his day. Thomas said he spent the day at the wharf having Cranky put Jobi logs on his flatbeds. They were going to rebuild their sheds, and add one more slot for a new train.

Can you guess what that train was called? Logan train! Thomas heard he was the greenest and most helpful engine from his home island. Percy is shocked and scared, another green engine? But Thomas assures him that he's also the kindest. Then Percy closes his eyes, and Thomas gets sleepy. Then I tell Peanut that he gets to go to bed with the trains too, and if he's quiet and listens carefully, he might hear Thomas's whistle (you never know if a train is going to go by, right???).

Every night it's worked. I close the door, and he doesn't leave his bed, he just lies there like a sweet little boy. That makes the whole day worth it. Knowing no matter what, for now at least, I have the key to getting him to go calmly to sleep.

We're getting a bit more healthy. We enjoyed the day with Boi. We enjoyed making a journey of the stressful day. And we're going to do our best to enjoy our next journey. Boi is going to be home more, things at his job are getting messed up. It's going to be tough financially, it's likely going to be extra tough on him to keep positive, but we're going to have him home with us, and we are going to love every extra second we get with him.