giving in...

Whew. What a night so far. My girls all took pretty long naps yesterday. I eventually had to wake Emryn and Ivy-Ann up. Not long after, we ate some yummy soup and apple bars (thank you again, Lauren, Lauren and Tess!) and then the nodding -off began. We were falling asleep at the table, on the floor, on our bed. All of us except Ivy-Ann. She was ready to play! We forced our way through showers and a bath and then decided it was time to go to bed. (It was 7:45.) 

However, Ivy-Ann was emphatic about not going to bed. As I was carrying her to her room, I explained that we were going night-night. She responded with no, many times. We went through the tiny routine we've been able to set up, and then it began. I laid her down on her bed, and she started crying. Her cries quickly turned to screams...some of the loudest, highest, most piercing screams I've ever heard. She was thrashing around and angry. 

Brian and I both knew it was a fit and that we could not give in. However, we also knew we couldn't handle this in the same way we would if it was one of our other girls. So we made her stay in her bed, but we stayed with her. One of us was touching her at all times (while the other was silently begging for wisdom), and we were constantly telling her we loved here and to be all done; we were giving her kisses and singing to her. We wanted her to know we weren't going to give in to her fit but that we weren't going to abandon her because of it either.

At one point she stopped screaming long enough to tell us she needed to go potty. We took her, and then, after some minutes, we realized she was just sitting there to avoid going back to bed. So back to bed we went. 

This went on for over an hour. Our poor baby was hoarse by the end of it. She finally gave in and fell asleep with Brian next to her kissing her cheek and telling her over and over that he loved her.

We know there were a lot of emotions wrapped into that fit, but we also felt we handled it with wisdom. It was exhausting, and we hope tomorrow night doesn't play out in a similar way. Though if it does, we'll be better geared for it.

She's been up twice since, and both times I've taken her back, and she's gone to bed just fine. That's a good sign, I think.

Whew! So much for giving in to fits or jet lag. Instead we gave into what the moment held and what our daughter most needed.