Until recently, Molly was an incredible sleeper. I could lay her down awake either for a nap or at night and she would go to sleep without another peep. This was a big change from you know who so it was a remarkable surprise and very pleasant.
One day a light switched and she decided party time (for me) was over. Every night after that, without fail, she would stand in her crib and scream "Mommy! Get me out of here!" at the top of her lungs. Over and over. Forever. We are not cry it out folks, but we did ignore her a bit because she was tired and she was not crying. Just screaming. Even if we did take her out she would either run around or fall immediately asleep on my lap only to wake as soon as I put her back in her bed. I started to get a nervous tic towards bed time because it was so upsetting and she was so relentless.
I decided to experiment and put her to sleep in Henry's trundle bed. They both loved it and it seemed like the perfect solution until the second day. They always give you one day of hope where you think it might work right? After that it was like herding giggling cats trying to keep both of them in bed and get them to go to sleep. Molly was really the instigator after a few days. Henry is without his nap due to preschool so he is falling down tired by 7pm. To keep wild girl in bed and let Henry sleep I would now have to lay down with her. Forget poor daddy. Only Mommy will do.
Laying down with Molly is a torturous event for the most part. She is not happy unless she has you pinned to the wall or the bedrail. She insists on being face to face. While she is staring you down refusing to sleep, she enjoys jabbing her fingers into your mouth, clawing you in the face or tickling your face very lightly so that it is almost painful. You cannot threaten her. I say, "Molly shut your eyes or else I am going to leave." She starts screaming "You get out of my bed NOW!" trying to wake Henry. As soon as you get up to call her bluff she starts crying "Mommy lay down with me pleasy pleasy." This goes on forever as the dirty dishes are congealing in the kitchen and my favorite shows are going unwatched.
She probably isn't tired because she naps so late. If she doesn't fall asleep on the way home from dropping Henry off at school I can forget about her napping. She wanders around like a drunken soldier until she can't take it one more second and she passes out. Usually 5 minutes before we leave to pick him up. I then have to strap her sleeping body to me in the carrier to Henry's school. She wakes about an hour later and is totally wired at bedtime.
The silver lining is that she is hilarious to lay with. She does funny things like lick her palms until she falls asleep. Once she was shoving her hands into her mouth over and over. I inquired as to what she was doing and she said she was washing her hands in her mouth. Another time she was scrubbing her hair furiously. She told me she was washing her hands in her hair. Better her hair than mine because that is one of her more painful tricks! Today she was laughing away tickling her own belly. She has also started telling me that I am her best friend or saying "Mommy you are such a good mommy." Those moments make all of the sleep shenanigans worth it.
