Bedtime is hard.

Not “all the time” hard.

Just hard sometimes.

I’m not talking about my bedtime. My bedtime is easy. When I get to go to sleep, I don’t fight it.

I relish getting to go to sleep.

I fall asleep on the couch….but I’m not really supposed to fall asleep on the couch.

I need to stay up until I get to lay down in my bed.

But this really isn’t about me.

But ….kind of.

I went in with Nate the other night to put him to bed…..and when we got to his room (it’s a short walk….our house is small. I shouldn’t make it sound like it was a journey. It’s not.) …..when we got to his room, Big Teddy was in his bed….waiting for him.

“Where’s Little Teddy?”

Me: “What do you mean ‘Where’s Little Teddy? He should be in your bed.  Where’d you put him?!”

This was a moment of panic for me….something hard can turn bad pretty quickly if things aren’t lined up right.

“I don’t KNOW!!! I DON’T KNOW!! WHERE’S LITTLE TEDDY?!!! I NEEEEEEEEEEED HIM!! ”

So….we started looking for Little Teddy.

Living room….kitchen…..under Nate’s bed.

While I was looking under the bed, I heard Nate padding towards our bedroom.

By the time I popped up and quietly ran after him, he had the door open to the room where Jenny was putting Sparrow to sleep.

I knew that if I tried to stop him at this point, things would escalate and get pretty loud pretty quick.

“I can’t find Little Teddy.”

“Well, you’re going to have to look for him yourself. Don’t wake Sparrow up. Close the door….close the door….”

I got him away from the door and we went back to his room….without Little Teddy.

“Maybe Teddy is out in the car?!! MAYBE HE’S IN THE CAR!! YOU NEEEEEEED TO CHECK THE CAR!!! CHECK THE CAR FOR TEDDY!!!”

“I’m not checking the car. You’ll need to sleep without Little Teddy tonight. We’ll find him tomorrow.”

Of course, this escalated things.

Logic and calm explanation doesn’t quiet things down all the time.

“TEDDY!!!!! I NEED TEDDY!!! WHERE’S TEDDY?!!! FIND HIM…..FIND HIM…..FIND TEDDY!!!”

IT WAS TIME FOR BED!!! So I picked Nate up…..yelling and kicking….and set him down in his bed….and….

he laid down and got quiet.

I’d won!!! Little Teddy was nowhere to be found….but I’d asserted my will and laid Nate down and he recognized that I was the boss and WHAT I SAID WAS THE WAY IT WAS GOING TO BE!!!

I HAD WON AS A PARENT!!

I WAS THE ALPHA!!!

I was basking in my victory when I heard Nate say, “Here he is!!”

Freaking Little Teddy was in the bed all along.

Freaking Little Teddy.

 

“Teddy Boy” The Beatles