Tonight's bedtime routine went less than smoothly. We'd had a late night the night before, and a very full day today. The kids were exhausted, as were Nick and I, and that usually leads to disaster. Sure enough, it started out rough, and just got worse.
Tessie had been on high button pushing mode for about an hour before bed, and the closer we got, the worse her behavior got. She was getting on her brother's nerves as well, and since he was also totally fried, he lashed out the best way he knows how, by grabbing a fistful of hair and pulling.
It took both Nick and I to loosen Christian's grip on his sisters head. He had both hands wrapped in tight. She was screaming, he joined in quickly, and we were in a parenting nightmare. We finally got them apart, and I soothed Tes while Nick put Christian in time out and had a big talk with him. Not fun.
When everyone calmed down I went to get Tessie's pillow, and Nick turned his back for a second. I heard the kids start to bug each other, and within seconds, Tes was crying again. Another hair pulling incident, although I suspected it was highly provoked. We made it through book time without a scuffle, but getting them to sleep was awful. They both complained about which song I chose, and were practically yelling at me. Christian kept demanding I turn him from one side to the other, and Tes was whining up a storm. I almost lost it, but managed to keep my voice down, mostly, and not strangle them. I also managed to get them to stop complaining and go to sleep; a small miracle if I've ever witnessed one. I snuck out of the room and didn't look back.
A little while later I was getting ready for bed myself, when Tessie sat up and called for me. I went over, already taking deep breaths, prepared for the worst. "What did you say mommy?" she asked sweetly and sleepily. She stopped me in my tracks. All signs of the demon child I put to bed were gone, and my baby girl was back. "I didn't say anything, baby," I whispered "go back to bed." she lay back down, closed her eyes, and was out. I looked down on her and every trace of anger and frustration ebbed out of me. All that was left was that beautiful ooey gooey love feeling that you can only get when looking at your sleeping child. I'm such a sucker.
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