Wednesday, January 04, 2012

I tell you, I AM a cool mom!

In amoungst my turmoil to be good mommy, a fair mommy, a fun mommy, I get stuck on being a mean mommy sometimes. It's tough I tell you. I want the kiddos to respect their elders (yeesh...I'm an elder????) and know their boundaries and the rules of the house. And when those rules get broken, the boundaries get tossed aside, and the elders get 'told', I start to take privileges away. No cartoons, Lollydollys get shoved into a secret hiding spot in MY closet and the garbage bag comes out with the threat that what enters that garbage bag, exits the house. Of course this always ends in tears of some sort. And I feel bad. Partly because I don't back down, and sometimes (ok, alot of times) neither does Lil' Miss. So having said that, I do let some stuff slide. Like sleeping in the bed.
Lil' Miss loves to make camping spots. She gets out her blankets, pillows, stuffies, bags of important stuffs, dress-up clothes and jewels,  pretty much the whole toybox (you NEVER know what you might need when you go camping!) , and she lays it all out in some area of the house...the living room, in the middle of the kitchen, her bedroom, Mr. Mister's bedroom.....the hallway, where ever her little heart leads her. It is quite the production. But she doesn't just bring stuff for her. She packs stuff for Mr.Mister and me, just in case we need it.
(take note of the real little Mr.Mister swinging in the background. Yes, Lil'Miss has been doing the 'camping' thing for a long long long time.....usually when I should be vaccuming the floor....)
So she has been wanting to camp out and sleep on the floor for awhile. Tonight I let her do it. She got out an old yoga mat that I kept under Mr.Mister's crib (because back in the day when she used to sleep in the crib and she'd have such a tough time going to sleep and staying asleep, I'd unroll the yoga mat and lay beside the crib....and hold her hand....) laid it out, laid out her blankets, got some of her stuffies, got a book of fairytales (thanks Auntie S!), got a hat (????????? But thanks Auntie B!) and then got her pillow puppy and she was ready for her campout. She asked me if I'd lie beside her for a bit. In a weak attempt to get her back into her bed I said 'No. I don't sleep on the floor. But I would lay beside her for a bit if she got into her bed.'
Lil' Miss: But Mom, I've got this mat! (She pulls her blanket back to reveal the mat she's sleeping on)
Mom: No, I still can't sleep on the floor.
So she took it at that. I tucked her in, told her the same rules apply when she sleeps in her bed. No getting up, no thumping around. She was to read her book and stay in her camp bed. She agreed with me so I tucked her in and  said I'd come back in in a couple of minutes to check on her. 10 minutes later I hear the thumping. I go up to see what she's gotten herself into and she's tucking Sunshine Bear in beside her. I review the rules again and say she has one more chance. 10 minutes later.....she's out like a light.
So.
Now what do I do.
Do I go in and transfer her to her bed?
Do I leave her there until she starts to cry in the middle of the night because she's disoriented and scared or she rolls into the closet doors, and THEN transfer her to bed?
Do I just leave her and see what she does in the morning if she manages to make it through the night?
I also told her that tomorrow night she's sleeping back in her bed.
Do you think she'll remember our agreement?
I guess we'll find out tomorrow.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well.....she does camp out at Gramma's, BUT IN A TENT! Once she's in, she's in for the night! Never see her again until morning. I think she is up to the challenge of 'open air' camping.....What a GOOD Mommy!!

Anonymous said...

OK, did she make it thru the night????

Anonymous said...

she is just getting ready for the real thing and is testing her mommy grampa t

Bluenocs said...

She did make it through the night. I left her there in her camp spot and she woke up all happy in the morning. So I guess I was a cool mom that day.