all in a day's work

The bedtime routine around here has changed and evolved over time and sometimes it is better than others. We go through phases where Henry is happy to get in his crib (after the whole routine) and others where he’s not. Lately he has been yelling for about 30 seconds after I put him in his crib and head for the door. I don’t like it and feel crappy leaving while he yells maaaaamaaaaaa. I feel such a sense of satisfaction when I lay him down and cover him up and he says night night and stays there to quietly fall asleep.

The whole reason I am bothering to write this down is that a very interesting thing seems to be going on. I put him in his crib and he stands up and I give him a drink of water, he drinks it and he acts done and then as I walk away he jumps up and down and screams “driiiiiink of water” and then “maaaaamaaaaa.” Both only once for a few seconds then lays down and goes to sleep. If I go back and try to give him more water he takes it and then does the same thing when I leave again. This has been going on for over a week so I have been lingering and asking for another kiss and saying night night, and offering more water, etc. to see if I can avoid the yelling part. The amazing thing is that he is starting to tell me he’s going to yell and jump. Like, “ha, ha, mama, Henry scream aaaahhhh. Ha, ha. Henry jump.” And tonight he went so far as to point to the door. I asked him if he wanted me to go and he smiled sweetly and said, "yes, mama go." And then he jumped up and down and screamed just like he said he would before laying down and going to sleep. For him, it's all part of the routine.

I can’t help but think of the old Warner Brothers cartoons with Sam the sheepdog and Ralph the wolf. They kept up their whole chase and attack routine until the lunch whistle blew and then they would sit down and eat together. Sometimes I guess you just have to go along with the act.