So close!

If you and I have ever talked about children sleeping then you know that Connor was a terrible sleeper as a baby. I didn't have this blog back then, which is just as well since every entry would have been titled "I'm exhausted!", so I can't go back and link to a very long post detailing all the intricacies of getting Connor to lay in his bed asleep. It was a feat, let me tell you. I would spend 45 minutes of the most precise movements to get him to lay down for a nap. And when that was done, I would sit in the chair in his room and wait. I knew that he would be up in about 15 minutes. There wasn't even a chance to go downstairs.

The only thing that got me through that time was knowing it would just be a little while longer. Just a few more months and he will start sleeping through the night. Don't lose it now! You can do it. This won't last forever. Thankfully, I didn't know the truth!

Don't get me wrong, there have been periods of time when he has slept through the night. I just didn't think I would still be having this conversation with myself. We've been through teething, we've made it through leaky diapers, we've found every lost pacifier, and we even survived the perfectly smooth blanket obsession. However, I really do think we are currently working on the last hurdle. Going to the bathroom alone!

I've been talking up the "big boy-ness" of going potty all by himself. I finally got him to agree, at least in theory. So then we worked out the lighting, hall light on. He knows what to do, we've been over it a couple of dozen times. Tonight was the first real trial. He called me up there at about 9:30. "Mommy!! I have to go paaaaaaaaaay!"

Now I don't think we are the only parents in the world who break out the good snacks AFTER the kids go to bed. They get a couple of pieces of Halloween candy, and we get to take huge spoonfuls of raw cookie dough into the living room. You know the drill. Anyways, so there I was cookie dough in mouth as I went up stairs to encourage my 3.5 year old son to go to the bathroom by himself. I told him I would wait in his room and he can go potty alone. He told me he knows how.

"You get out of bed." Hops out of bed.
"You walk to the bathroom." Walks like a robot out of the room.
He probably had commentary in the bathroom but I couldn't hear.
"And then you go back to sleep!" Hops back into bed and lays down.

I told him what a good job he did and leaned in to give him a kiss on the cheek.

"What's that smell?!"
"huh?" I swear that boy just smelled cookie on my breath!
"It smells like...." Please don't say cookies. Please don't say cookies. "muffins."
"mmm"

So the good news is that our secret midnight desserts are still safe. The bad news is that I have just a little while longer until I can sleep through the night. Right?