Bedtime Outburst

Truman is generally our best behaved kid when it comes to bedtime. Dinner ends, and he might play for a bit, but he is usually asking to "do all the things". That means that he wants to do everything to get ready for bed (brush teeth, read books, maybe the occasional video game), and he is generally willing to go to bed shortly afterward.

Tonight, James was taking Amelia to a basketball game, so it was just me and the boys. Shortly after dinner, Truman was already asking to "do all the things", so James offered to put him in bed before he left. He put him in bed, left, and I stayed with Jameson and Darwin downstairs.

About 30 minutes later, as I am preparing to take Jameson upstairs to bed, Truman pokes his face through the 2nd floor stair rails and yells, "bring me downstairs!". I am surprised to see that he's still awake, but I try to reassure him that I am on my way upstairs to bring Jameson to bed. He breaks down, falls into a fetal position, and starts crying. I pick him up, and I tell him that if he lays down, I will get him a drink.

As Jameson brushes his teeth, and I return with a drink for Truman, which seems to satisfy him for the moment. For a few brief minutes, everyone is at peace as we lay down to read a couple of books. Then, I declare it's bedtime.

Everyone is quiet as I lay down with Jameson for a few minutes. Truman begins grumbling that he doesn't want to go to sleep, but I am so tired I am fading in and out of sleep. A few minutes later, I wake up to more Truman grumbling, except he is escalating it now to yelling and threats, fairly out of character for him.

I ignore him at first, just listening to what he's saying. I wanted to be mad because it's late, and I still have to get Darwin to sleep. Then I really started listening to what he was saying, and I wanted to laugh.

In his angry stream of demands and threats, he orders that I "say something to [him], don't say something to [him]". I think that's his way of telling me not to talk to him. He demands the same about 20 times. When I don't respond, he begins to bang on the sides of the crib. (Yes, he's still in a crib due to our temporary living arrangements). I can tell that he likes the loudness of his foot banging on the wood panels. He bangs harder. Then he begins to throw out his threats, "I'm gonna break this bed!", and I can't help but giggle to myself.

"I'm gonna break this bed and then we don't have a bed!" I am still laughing on the inside, but I tell him to cut it out, and that it's time to go to sleep. He grumbles more threats under his breath, and I tell him I am going downstairs to get Darwin.

When I return with Darwin, Truman is still awake and continuing with his complaints and threats. I turn on the bedtime music, and this finally seems to settle him down. He is asleep before I can get Darwin to sleep, and I laugh as I remembered his angry little threats and how far we've come from the calm, quiet, agreeable Truman of days long passed.