And maybe he'd throw in extra chores, too!

The other night I revisited Adam's early days, except without all the cute, new-babyness. The part I got to experience again was being woken up every 2 hours by a needy child.


I went to bed at 10:30 (which is actually earlier than usual, sad as that is). At 12:30, Ben woke me up, needing help to go potty. Fine. This has become a new normal.


At 2:30, Adam started crying, and I went in, gave his pacifier, and left while he cried - until I closed the door behind me. After 2 beats, he was quiet until he woke up at 7:15am. NO nursing. YESssssss.


Then at 4:30, I think Leah came in with bad dreams. But I KNOW Ben did. After I wouldn't bite for tucking him back in after a bad dream ("you can tuck yourself in" has become my new night-time mantra), he decided that he'd try to go potty. This is outright taking advantage of my sleep deprived state, and manipulating my desire for him NOT to have an accident while sleeping. He knows that if he goes potty, I'll tuck him back into bed.


My alarm clock went off at 6:30.

And this mommy has had quite enough of walking around tired all day.

So last night I laid the smack down, and told Ben that he would be going potty by himself from now on, and I would NOT be tucking him back into bed, for any reason. He acknowledged the new rule, and when I kissed him goodnight, won my heart all over again with his sweet little, "Mommy, me sorry me wake you up."

But he still did. BUT, I didn't get out of bed, and I think everything went alright. At any rate, he didn't wet the bed or his pjs, and he didn't fall off the stool and get a concussion. And in the morning, he was insistent that I'd helped him. No, dear, I did not. But if you need to BELIEVE that I did, go right ahead.

***********************************************

Last night was bath night, and as usual, it was Adam's turn first. He just loves his baths and gives you the biggest, "This is AWESOME!" grin when you plunk him in the baby tub. After I had washed him up, I decided to feel for a new tooth that I'm sure is coming in (that would be the 7th.) He was so obviously enjoying it, using my finger as a teether. I was being so very careful to avoid those pearly whites already present, when I got distracted and moved just a hair to the wrong side....and got my index finger biten on both the top AND bottom.

I yelped, and Adam looked at me with his bottom lip tucked in, eyes all big and round. Then I looked at him again and said, a little less sharply, "Owie!"

And he started bawling. Not just play crying either - his face turned red, tears were rolling, and it took several moments for me to reassure him that everything it was fine. It did, however, take me MUCH longer to get over the pain in my finger.

Then I got to thinking - wouldn't it be awesome if parents still had that power when the baby is a teenager? They'd come in late, Mom would glare and say, "You are late!" and the kid would ground HIMSELF. After crying himself to sleep.