The Exodus of Bedtime

I had a dream last night that I was invited to the White House to sit down and talk with President Obama about policies. When I left the very productive meeting I went back to work and posted this as my facebook status: “Just left my meeting with President Obama in the Oval Office. It went great. We talked for awhile and by the time I left he was a Republican.”

A girl can dream right?

And speaking of dreaming, we’ve been having trouble getting Jackson down for bed at night. We have our normal nighttime routine of bath, cup of milk, some cheddar cheese rice cakes, and then watch a few minutes of a movie, with the movie of choice right now being Robin Hood. We always set the timer on the microwave for 10 minutes and when it buzzes, in theory, it’s time for him to brush his teeth, go potty and then get in bed.

Did you notice that “in theory” part?

Reality is that Jackson pitches a fit when the buzzer goes off. A crying, screaming, wailing, temper tantrum throwing fit.

It’s exactly what we want to deal with at 8:00 at night.

Jackson has a few tricks up his sleeve that he always tries to delay the bedtime process if the crying and screaming don’t work:

1. He decides that he has a boo-boo somewhere that requires a Spiderman Band-Aid, and only Spiderman will work.
2. He desperately needs a glass of water.
3. He’s convinced that there’s a monster in his closet.
4. He wants a book or ten read to him.
5. He wants to pray for every single person that he’s ever met, or he wants to thank God for every single thing in his room, including his bottle of Germ-X.

Usually his approach is to try a combination of the options above, and his success rate is probably in the 90% rate for actually delaying bedtime.

Last night Jeremy was having a hard time with Jackson when I overheard this conversation:

Jeremy: “Jackson, it’s time to brush your teeth and go to bed.”
Jackson: “I don’t want to go to bed. God doesn’t go to bed.”
Jeremy: “Are you God?”
Jackson (without missing a beat): “No, I’m Moses.”

There is a nasty stomach bug going around Jackson’s daycare center, and Jeremy isn’t feeling good this morning. Please pray that with Moses in our house that we won’t all succumb to a stomach bug of Biblical proportions.

Have a great day!