Bedtime

Every night, it's the same struggle with bedtime. Jack hates going to sleep. I don't know what it is about this child. I'm sure in about ten years he is going to be the teenager I'm going to have to throw a bucket of water on to get out of bed in the morning.

Every night he complains, "I hate going to bed. Nighttime is so long. I wish you would stay with me. I get so lonely. It's so dark. Can you stay for six minutes? Can you sleep in my room with me? It's so hot. It's too noisy." And on and on.

We are pretty inured to his schtick at this point, so we blithely continue with the nightly ritual of going to bed. And he participates, if rather sulkily. Possibly my favorite part is when he's distributing his good-night kisses. Violet will either stand by his bed or sit on his bed beside him and lean in for a kiss. When he gives her a peck, she usually bobs her head back again for another one. It's really sweet.

The only part of his protestations that sometimes gives me pause is if he whimpers, "Don't go!" or "Don't leave me!" as we're closing the door. Something about how lonely he sounds makes my heart ache just a little. I have to steel myself from going back and giving him a big hug.

Thankfully, after all that, he usually falls asleep pretty quickly and stays asleep for a good 11 hours. I'd feel even more grateful for that if I didn't feel we'd earned every minute of it.