The King of Stall Land

Atrain spent almost two hours stalling in his room tonight before sumbitting to the sandman. (This was after we spent an hour prepping for bed...he loves his new star wars books from the library). And then the rest of the night routine went like this:

There was the initial goodnight, and then the bathroom break; the 'I just need X random car' that takes 10 minutes to find; the 'I just wanted to give you this toy' break; the need for more water; the spilled water; the peeking around the corner because 'I just wanted to see what you were doing; then I close his door for disobeying (again); I open it to feed thr gunny sack (newest clean up motivation tool) with all the objects that have been thrown against his door; then he cries for 10 minutes; then I go in to comfort; we talk (well, he talks, while I listen and sign); and then he finally settles in for the night.

I am sure there are multiple things wrong with my reaction to his delay tactics. But it was sweet tonight as I comforted him to hear him explain his motivations to me. As I snuggled with him in bed he said, 'I just wish I was taller, mom, like you.' I nodded and mouthed, 'You do?' --He can't hear me, but it is incredible how chatty he is sans cochlears. 'Yeah, I wish I was taller and I could stay up with you and clean and not sleep in this bed any more, and put Gothridge on your shelf and I will sleep in your bed because I will be taller. I just wish I was taller." I nodded and signed "I love you. Time to sleep."

I do love that boy. I love him so much and wish he could say up with me, but I can't surrender. At least, not tonight. Someday he will be taller and he will be able to stay up with me. Hopefully by then he'll still want to hang out with me (and I'm sure he'll understand that the pinnacle of family progression does not revolve around sleeping in mom's bed). I can't wait to see what new strategies the King of Stall Land will devise in our war with bedtime.