This is the Last Time...

...that I am going to talk about Q and his sleeping issues. At least for this weekend. Perhaps next week as well. But probably not for forever.

At bedtime, he was fairly excited to be going to sleep with his sisters. And his sisters were actually pretty excited about him sleeping with them. We thought for sure this would be a success. But, at 10:00pm he proved us wrong. We heard Casey's door slam. We heard him go bounding down the upstairs hallway, sliding on his bottom down the stairs - thump, thump, thump - racing through the foyer and then his applause for himself as he entered the living room. "Show? Show?" was his way of greeting us...asking to watch a show on TV. We repeatedly told him no and gave him a choice - he could sleep with sisters or he could sleep in his big boy bed in his big boy room. "Show? Show?" Clearly, we weren't getting anywhere. This continued for about 30 minutes.

So Chris carried him back upstairs and asked him again. No decision was made (he was holding out for door #3), so Chris put him in his bed and locked the door behind him. (We, long ago, turned the knob so the lock was on the outside of the door. We typically lock him in at bedtime and then unlock it when we go to bed.)

Quinn has received these really fabulous traits from Chris and I. He is truly a mix of the two of us.

1. From Chris he received his desire to never sleep alone. Chris was famous as a child for poking his little fingers out from under the door and saying, "Is anybody out there? Its me, Chris Pendley. I'm still awake."
2. From me he received his ability to throw the world's worst temper tantrum. I came to a new understanding the other night, as I listened to him scream and throw himself into the door in his room (this was a night when we were going up every 15 minutes to check on him) how a. I broke my leg throwing a temper tantrum when I was 18 months old and b. how my mother spanked me and put me to bed, therefore, not knowing my leg was broken until the next morning. True story. And by then, my leg was too swollen for the doctor to do anything. So my mom had to spend the day icing my leg and took me back the following day for them to re-break and cast my leg. I spent the summer toddling around in a walking cast. Quinn throws the same, bone shattering, temper tantrums.

So, with the mix of these two genetic traits, we have one *awesome* child on our hands.

Back to last night...Chris locked him in and we prepared ourselves for the worst. The worst amounted to over 3 hours of continuous screaming. At the top of his lungs. And banging on the door. And throwing things. Several times when Chris went in, he found Quinn standing on his bed, screaming at full volume, with his eyes closed, swaying in the dark. He just refused to lay down.

Eventually, he fell asleep. And then Ike woke up at 5:30am. I took him outside, fed him breakfast, we played, and Chandler came downstairs at 6am. I sent her back up. She came down again at 6:30. Again, I told her to go back to bed. Ike and I went back up shortly after this. I had a crazy hope that maybe I could go back to sleep. But then both the girls were up and Ike could hear them and so....big sigh...I spent some time laying in the bed, shushing the dog while cursing my children.

At 9am, Chris went and woke Quinn up with a prize for sleeping in his bed. We're prepared to do it all again tonight. But I won't bore you with the story tomorrow.