Daddy Powers?

Putting the kids to sleep is a task best left to the pros. In this case, the pro is Kate... My strengths are mostly making pillow forts, spontaneous dance parties and making the kids laugh.

One night, I had the kids to myself and had the task to put them to sleep. I planned ahead. I made sure that I got them extra tired that day. I think we played a game of "see how many times you can run around daddy in a minute", then try to beat it. Top-notch parenting.

Naiya was a breeze, she was so tired after an afternoon at the park she passed out almost immediately. At the time, Cal wasn't walking yet, so getting him tired was a little tougher... He wanted to keep playing. I tried to put him in bed but he refused. He stood in his crib and yelled for me. I was there pretty quick because I didn't want him to wake Naiya up.

At this point I thought WWKD (what would kate do?). Snuggling! ok, I can do this!

I grab Cal and his favorite blanket. Got him all wrapped up and start to snuggle him... At first he is all smiles and thinks we are going to play some new game, then it slowly dawns on him.

'Wait a minute... what are you doing? Are you trying to put me to sleep??'

For some reason, he just can't fathom the idea that I will put him to sleep, so he wiggles out of his blanket and tries to pry my glasses off my face. He succeeds. As my glasses hit the floor, he looks back at me for approval.

'that was a good throw!'

Determined I carry on rocking him and trying to calm him. He does not approve. He tries to wiggle out of my hold but I will not let him go. He keeps getting more and more agitated. He is starting to let out small squeals of disapproval. I begin to panic... WWKD?  WWKD???.

... SING!!

Sidenote: I am a terrible singer... If my nasally voice is any indication of my vocal capacity, you will get an idea of the range I have.

I start to sing "over the rainbow", like I have seen Kate do a million times. Cal stops moving... he's relaxing! Its working!! Cahlen slowly turns his head toward my voice and we make eye contact. He gives me a look that spells out "what are you doing to this song?", then he immediately starts to laugh... at first lightly then hysterical laugher! I stop singing... he's still laughing. As Cal's laugh continues on and on, it extinguishes any desire I ever had to sing ever again... I watch him slowly fade. He's laughing himself to sleep. slowly. and eventually he's out.

Mission accomplished I guess.

Mommy powers

It's 11:07pm and I have the thought "hmmm I'll go to bed at a decent time tonight." You know how superstitious people won't say things because they'll jinx them? This is one of those thoughts that if you even THINK it, you'll jinx it. I walk into our bedroom, and, damn, I forgot that Naiya fell asleep after reading books in our bed. Now for the dreaded move to her bed. Sometimes it's no problem at all, sometimes as soon as you touch her she screams and you have to postpone the mission, and sometimes, like tonight, you get to her bed, then place her down, then she screams. The problem with the last version is that when she starts crying, Cahlen wakes up. So now I'm trying to calm Naiya down and convince her that her bed is perfectly fine, and I hear rustling from Cal's crib, followed by a small whimper. Too late. Carlos hears the beginnings of this catastrophe and swoops in and grabs Cal. Phew...for now. An issue with reasoning with a 3-year-old who has just woken up, is disoriented, exhausted, and doesn't want to go to sleep because she's scared of having nightmares, is that they can not be reasoned with. The barrage of "no no no no no no" doesn't stop as she somehow wriggles half off the bed and into my lap (I'm sitting beside the bed at this point). That's it, I pull out the big guns: Over The Rainbow. I start humming the familiar tune and in less than a verse she's out cold. I call Carlos to bring Cahlen back in. As soon as he walks in and hears me humming he knows it's game over for the little guy - he places him in bed and calmly exits the room as if he's never been there. Cal whimpers once, rolls over, and is out. Mommy powers: 1, kids: 0.
If I have one piece of advice for parents, it's to pick a Mommy Lullaby and stick with it. Every night or almost every night until they fall asleep on their own (for Naiya, almost a year, for Cal, about 10 months) should do it. After that the kids will sleep when they hear the lullaby like Pavlov's dogs salivated when they heard the bell. It's f$%*ing magic.
Good night!