Bedtime battles

We've been having trouble with Connor going to bed. Granted, this is a problem that we've been having for 3 years and 86 days now, but it's been especially bad the last few weeks. This round had come to a head the night before last when Larry took his favorite toys out of his room and told him he could have them back in the morning if he would lay down and go to sleep. That finally worked. We didn't hear another peep out of him.

Then yesterday he wouldn't lay down for nap. I took him potty and put him in his bed. I told him I wasn't coming back no matter what. NO MATTER WHAT! We said good night and I closed the door. I hadn't even made it to the top of the stairs before he started his games. And he didn't hold back... he went right for the throat.

"Mommy! I need to go pee on the potty!!!!"
"MOMMY!"
"Mommy, I need to go PEEEEEEEEEEE"

This went on for about 45 minutes, but I stuck to my guns. I knew he didn't really have to go pee. He just went! But it was hard, I couldn't help but think he was up there just dying to go to the bathroom and what a horrible person I was for not taking him. Who makes a child beg for 45 minutes to go pee? A terrible person... that's who.

But he did finally give up and fall asleep. And I would like it noted that he didn't have to pee when he woke up.

I got my reward for all my hard work last night when he went down with no troubles at all. He didn't call for us even one time. At least not right away. About an hour after he had been put to bed he started calling...

"Mommy!"
"Mooooommmmyyyy"

But this time it was different. Any mom who has been a mom for more than a few weeks knows the difference between a "I'm mad because I'm not getting my way" cry and a real true "I'm upset, scared, hurt, or stuck" cry. And this was the latter.

But I still wasn't totally convinced. I went up there, but I wasn't happy about it.

I walk in and he doesn't stop crying right away. This is when I know something is truly wrong... it's not a trick. In the dim light I can see something is wrong with his shirt. The silly boy had taken his arm out of his sleeve. Then he put it up through the neck hole... and then back through the arm hole. It was quite a tangle. He cracks me up. I was laughing so hard I almost couldn't untangle him. What a silly boy I have.

I straightened his shirt and he went right to sleep. But now I'm afraid that he knows that getting himself in a predicament will get him after-lights-out attention. Let's hope that I don't have to make him sleep with his shirt half on and half inside out.