Finally! Double Bedtime Success!

Last night was a night like we haven't had in more than a year.  Both Gerry and Bailey were in bed and asleep by 9pm.  There were no bedtime battles...no whining...no crying...no begging to stay up later and watch tv with mommy and daddy.  It was, in a word, amazing.

I put Gerry to bed at 7:45, fully expecting his now-normal screaming fit but he surprised me.  He whined for a minute and stood back up in his crib, but I laid him back down and gave him his bottle, and he was out cold in a matter of minutes.  And Bailey...oh, my Bailey.  She hasn't gone to bed before 10pm in at least a year.  She doesn't fight it like Gerry has been lately, with tears or screaming, but she's a master negotiator, always asking for one more show, for mommy or daddy to lay with her "for these many minutes", not staying in her bed.  There were nights {many, many more than I'd like to admit} where Scott and I would go to bed around 11pm or midnight and Bailey was still wide awake.  And then, of course, she'd creep into our bedroom in the middle of the night asking for juice, for one more show, anything to keep from having to actually sleep.  Eventually, we just kind of gave up on an actual "bedtime" and just let her pass out whenever she felt like it.

But last night, after Gerry had gone down so easily for me I figured what the heck?  Why not try and get Bailey to actually sleep in her bed at a decent hour for once?  She was "helping" us fold laundry around 8:15 and I gave her the warning that when the laundry was folded it was time for her to go to bed.  By 8:30, we were walking upstairs to her bedroom -- without a fight or a word of protest from her.  Scott and I looked at each other and shook our heads in disbelief.  Don't jinx this. 

We tucked her into bed, gave her a million and one kisses, turned on her night light, and went back downstairs.  I don't know about Scott, but I hightailed it out of there on my tip toes like my hair was on fire.  No way was I going to hang around and potentially screw this magical evening up.  So Scott and I settled on the couch with some drinks and Game Of Thrones ready to go on the DVR and we didn't hear a peep from upstairs. 

Until Bailey came flying down 20 minutes later.

I'll give her this: she tried her damnedest.  "Please can I stay down here with you, Daddy?  I just love you guys.  Please, please, please?"  I saw Scott wavering and I stuck to my guns.  When *I* started wavering, I resorted to less-than-honorable tactics.  "You know, Bail...they won't let little girls who don't sleep play t-ball."  I asked her if she thought I should call her coach and tell him she won't be playing after all, and she nodded her head.  So then I just basically said, too bad.  I gave her a piggy-back ride to her bedroom, tucked her back in, gave her a million and one kisses, and reminded her that if she wasn't tired she didn't have to go to sleep but that she did have to stay in her bedroom.  And I didn't hear from her again until she woke up at just after 8 this morning.  And, with the exception of one quick wake-up around midnight, Gerry slept all the way through, too.  Success!

It's been months since we've gotten anything resembling a decent night's sleep.  Months.  Just when I thought I was hitting my breaking point with Gerry, some switch flipped and he decided that freaking out at bedtime and waking up 4-5 times during the night wasn't fun anymore.  I've probably jinxed myself by posting this...and I'm crossing my fingers for another restful repeat tonight!