Goodnight Peter!

Peter has been getting up at night the past few weeks to ask for water and then to do the toddler-thing and refuse to go back to sleep. "Let me have the cup Peter." "NO." "Well, you need to lie down, Peter." "NO." "Yes, you do. Your diaper is wet and I need to change it." "NO." He protests very loudly at this point and I remind him that everyone is sleeping. "The trees are sleeping. Don't wake them up." "Flowers?" "Yes. The flowers are sleeping." "Kisty?" "Yes, Kristy is sleeping." "Pat?" "Yes, Pat is sleeping." And we go through the names of his nurses and therapists. The fact that he has woken up any family members doesn't faze him and we go on listing other people/things that are sleeping until he decides he can in fact let everyone/everything continue to sleep by being quiet and going back to sleep himself.

Last night was a particularly long night of protests. To try to emphasize my point that it was time to sleep and he needed to settle down, I looked at him face to face and then went on further to talk about the animals he was keeping up. "The birds are sleeping, Peter. And the dogs." "Bees?" Surprised he made the leap to animals with me, I said, "Yes, the bees too." "Turtles?" "Yes, the turtles too." Now I am just amazed that he is going on this tangent with me and listing just animals. "Giraffes?" "Yes, giraffes are sleeping." Peter growls. "Yes, the lions are sleeping too." After he gives a lower growl I tell him, "Yes, the bears are asleep too. Now you go to sleep Peter." "NO." Ahhh, the great discoveries and trials of toddlerhood!