Essan... STOP!

I have discovered the secret to getting Ethan to stop crying for long periods of time...

Thanks to your collective advice, I decided to tough it out a little bit longer with Ethan and Anika sharing a room. Sure enough, Anika has learned to sleep through his nightly wakings and the many creaks in our old floors as I walk into the room, to his crib, to the rocking chair (followed by loud creaks from the rocking chair) and finally back to his crib and out of the room again.

Sometimes it is an adventure finding Ethan in the dark... it has resulted in picking him up upside down at times. Once again, Ethan's mild complaints and my sudden "oh shoot" whisper does not seem to disrupt my sleeping beauty.

However, bedtimes can be somewhat challenging. Ever since the daylight has been lingering until well after ten p.m, my darling little ones cannot seem to quiet down for their 8:00 pm bedtimes. But for the sake of consistency, we try to make sure they are in bed around that time or within half an hour.

Some nights are ok... Ethan settles relatively easily and Anika requires a few minutes of cuddle time which also includes a loud whispered request "Five wittle monkeys jumping on da bed?" Thankfully she has not mastered counting backwards as my song progresses from five to two to one little monkey jumping on the bed.

But other nights, (such as last night) Ethan decides it is quite nearly the end of the world that I lay him in his crib. At the very first CREAK as I shift my weight to walk away is enough for him to pipe up and scream as though I had stepped right on HIM! Anika waits patiently as I offer her a goodnight kiss and then she sits up in her bed, looks over at Ethan with frustration then back at me and points at him and tells me "Mommy, GO GET 'EM"

What seems an eternity is merely five to ten minutes but I walk out of that room feeling like I have just been the ring master in a circus! Down I go to stare despairingly at my dirty kitchen while the baby monitor roars the sound of Ethan's distress like a fire siren. The poor device is maxed out on its capacity as the little green dial revs up beyond the red ones to max capacity... sigh.

About five minutes later, I hear Anika yell above the screamaing "ESSAN! STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT!"

I chuckle to myself until I realize Ethan has actually stopped screaming!

Are you kidding me? Is that all it takes? All those times I kept my cool I should have just yelled "STOP IT!" and maybe clobbered him on the head with a frying pan? Ok, ok, maybe we'd leave the frying pan out of it, for the sake of Child & Family Services...

Anyways, just had to share how hilarious it was to hear Anika take charge with her little brother only to have him ACTUALLY respond to it! Atta girl, Anika! We shall see if it works again tonight. hee hee hee!