Angel/devil

For weeks I have cursed Mallory's sleeping habits, but she continues to amaze me at bedtimes these days by rolling over and drifting off without any fuss. Liam, on the other hand, is presenting a challenge. When he cries, it's this blood-curdling wail that would make you think he's being skinned alive. And if you try to shush him when he's crying, he only cries harder. I've tried ignoring him ("When you're ready to talk to me nicely again, I'll listen to you"); I've tried getting mad at him ("If you wake Mallory up Mommy is going to be VERY angry!"); but nothing seems to work. For the past few nights, Liam's been having some going-to-sleep issues of his own. I let him stay up late in our bed one night, so of course the next night he wanted to do it again. I said no... and a meltdown ensued. This was right after I'd put Mallory down and if he'd woken her up, I would have been livid. The threats, the ignoring... none of it seemed to work... it all just made him cry harder. Finally I left him upstairs and came down to do the dishes and get a couple other things done before going to bed myself. I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of going upstairs and spending any more time with him before he fell asleep. When we finally went up to bed nearly an hour later, I expected him to be fast asleep in our bed. That wasn't the case: there he was, beaming at us and watching the home shopping channel on TV. Little stinker.

I see that I have been tagged - ugh, now the need to think of some stuff! For now, I am off to start ticking items off the to-do list that grew all too long while I was prepping for my exam and put everything else on hold. The house is a disaster, and I desperately need to get to the gym or out for a run today. Off to start making some headway now.