A Decisive Battle

For the last few days now we've been having a bit of a struggle, uh, disagreement, um . . . okay, it was all-out World War III over here, concerning going to bed. In the past, Nathan and I have just closed her door and locked her in her room at bedtime. She would pound on the door for a few minutes, crying, but then give up and go to sleep. Well, a few nights ago we decided that we wanted her to stay in bed because we said so, not because there was no other choice. See, lately she has gotten pretty disobedient, just for the sake of being disobedient. Things that she used to do happily are now a big issue. If we call her, she won't come. When we try to buckle her in the car, she throws a fit. So the bedroom became our battleground where we would not be moved.

The first night we left her door open when she went to bed, and every time she got out of bed we put her back. Two and a half hours and 192 times later, she fell asleep (and so did we!) The next night was not as bad, but it was bad enough. We tried different strategies over the next few days, but while nothing really worked, we noticed that she was beginning to stay in bed longer, and was gaining control of herself.

My last strategy was to tell her that if she wanted her door to stay open, she had to stay in bed. When she got out of bed, it got closed, and that was it. Last night when I put her down she cried for a while from her bed, but didn't get up. After 20 minutes or so I figured she was asleep, so I went back to pull her door closed most of the way so she wouldn't hear every little sound we made. She started to cry! Then she got out of bed and ran to me, crying. It was like she was saying, "But I didn't get out of bed! I didn't break my deal! Why are you breaking yours?" I felt like such a worm. I wasn't going to shut the door all the way, just close it a little more. I apologized and calmed her down, and she went back to bed. Twenty minutes later, Nathan checked on her and she was asleep, so he shut her door to just a crack.

This morning I heard her crying a half-hour earlier than normal and I groaned. But I didn't get out of bed because I knew her door and my door were both open and that she could come find me. But she didn't. For about 5 minutes I heard her fumble with the knob and whimper. Finally I got up to see if the door had accidentally closed. I found Annalee standing in her doorway, holding onto the knob and crying because she didn't know if she was allowed to get up. Oh, what a feeling! Now I know how Heavenly Father must feel when we are obedient. I love her so much! Oh, I have the best baby in the world!