The Strong Willed Child

Aaron and I have always known that we didn't stand a chance having a child who is compliant and content to do what they are asked. We knew, based upon our personalities, that we would probably have varying degrees of "The Strong Willed Child." Last night proved once again that even at the tender little age of 2, our daughter probably has the strongest will of all of the kids.

For some reason, she was really fighting going to sleep last night. Actually she asked to go to bed and so we put her in bed and she stayed there for about 30-45 minutes and then got back up. So we put her back in bed. We also went to bed at this time (or so we thought). This was the beginning of her getting out of bed and coming to our room. We tried putting the gate up at her door, which she barrelled through (and scared us as it crashed to the floor); we tried ignoring her, which she didn't seem to mind. At one point she actually fell asleep standing up next to our bed with her head on the mattress. I thought maybe if I ignored her and acted like I was asleep she would take herself back to her room. No such luck.

She stayed in bed a little longer after falling asleep standing up, but eventually she tried to "escape" again. She knocked the gate down again, but this time it must have taken all of her energy because she fell asleep on the floor next to it. I put her back in bed and she began to scream so we went downstairs, laid down on the couch and she fell asleep. I did too. After a little bit I woke up and put her in bed and this time she stayed in bed until morning.

She just could not give in to sleep in her bed and she was determined to sleep with mommy for at least a few minutes. In the middle of the night I will definitely lose the battle of the wills. I value my time in my bed too much. :-)