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!