The Master Staller

At night Evan turns into the Master Staller to delay bedtime. Here are all the wonderful tactics he's used in the past:

* "One more hug." This one still occurs, but not so bad. Cause I don't let it get out of hand (any more.) Some nights, he stalled for 15 minutes just to get "one last hug" which was really his twentieth last hug. So I laid down the law and told him he gets two last hugs. One hug to say good night. Then I reset his birdies which plays a lullaby song and go back and give his "for real" last hug. Some nights he still asks for another last hug, but I stay strong. I tell him, "No, you got your last hug. Good night. I love you." I do give him a kiss, but no more hugs! That usually is enough and I walk out saying "I love you" even if I'm refusing to hug him.

* "I don't want this friend in bed!" Seriously, he would call out for me and insist that I come in to take his stuffed animal friend away. The last time he did this, I told him he doesn't need me for this and he can do it himself. He then got to "practice" throwing his friend on the ground by himself. We have not had a friend incident since. But strangely enough, I haven't found any friends on the ground either.

* A booger. Yeah, this guy is creative. He calls out, "Momma, I have a booger on my finger!" and he wants me to take it off. I'm having him wipe it on his PJs or sheets so that I don't have to help him anymore.

* "I want to see the trash man and then I'll go back to sleep." This happened at nap time. He could hear the garbage truck coming down the street and insisted on seeing the truck. The next day, he heard large cars driving by and an airplane flying overhead. He insisted it was the garbage man and he wanted to see him.

* Wow, what are the chances that as I post this, Evan brings out a whole new stall tactic?! I told Evan that we had a busy morning and it's time to rest so that we can do something special when he wakes up. After a few minutes he started calling out for me. I go in and he starts asking me what kind of ice cream I'm going to order from the ice cream lady (we're planning a trip to Cold Stone tomorrow.) What he doesn't know is that today's special treat is washing the car! I didn't tell him this yet, cause it's so extra special to him, I don't think I could get him to fall asleep. :)