Tuesday, April 3, 2007

Bedtime for Bonzo

More often than not, bedtime with Lyle is nearly insufferable. He's not really ready to sleep when we put him to bed, but his big brother is (you know, the one who no longer naps but took a nap regularly until he was almost 6 - because we finally cut him off). And you just can't get a 1st grader to bed if his 2-year old brother is still running around the house. So we deal with the insanity of Lyle. But tonight was extra-special. Now, I have no idea if this new stuff has been going on a while or if it's just for my benefit because I came home today after being in MA for 3 days - and I won't know tonight because Matt left for a business trip a couple hours after I arrived home - but it's priceless.

First, there was the "singing chair". When I started to sing my usual songs to them, Lyle had a new agenda. "I sit in dis chair," he said, pulling it over. "Umm, okay," I said, and then tried to start the song again. "No! Not dat song! I sing one!" and he broke into a rousing rendition of the ABCs that clearly had the word "Elmo" in place of LMNO. He barely tolerated my singing of the song Baxter chose; before I got the final line out he said impatiently, "Dat was good singin'. Now it's my turn again" and he was off and running with "Tinkle, Tinkle, Wittle Tar".

Once he was finally in bed for a while and I was out here on the couch outside their bedroom, laptop open, catching up on all the blogs I hadn't read over the past few days, he called out that he had to go potty. Huh?? Again, was he simply vying for my attention or did this have something to do with the new Sesame Street "Potty Time" book that came in the mail today? What's a mom to do? So in we went. I sat in front of him and he stared into my eyes in loving wonderment, detailing the colors, startled to see himself, and asking to touch my eyeball. He sang me another song or two. Okay, the same song or two. Baxter heard all the excitement and before I knew it we were all cavorting in the bathroom. Which was nice and all. Except that they were supposed to be in bed.

After another round with the singing chair and another unproductive trip to the potty, he has finally settled down.

It's good to be home.

2 comments:

Amy said...

Ain't life with a two-year-old exciting?

Touch your eyeball, indeed!

Christopher Tassava said...

Oh, man. That story rings all too true (except the eyeball-touching: yuck). Luckily, Julia's been on a streak of "going to bed yike a big girl" for a few weeks now, and we haven't had to put up with this stuff for a while. Come to think of it, she's due for a new phase any day...