What To Do, What To Do?


Say your daughter has been rebelling against sleep lately. And although you are loving and patient and kind and all sorts of other positive adjectives, you have HAD IT with being sequestered in her room every night for at least an hour as she performs gymnastics in her crib and yet shrieks in agony every time you step out of the room.

What to do? Stay in the room and stew in your own resentful juices? Leave and let her scream?

I've tried both options, and have found them unsatisfying for a variety of reasons. Tonight, I poked around in my tattered bag of solutions and plucked out a pretty good one. It does nothing to help Allie go to sleep any better, but it sure did make my stay in her room much more tolerable: In case you'd like to try this yourself, all you need are 1) a flashlight and 2) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Of course, tonight was the night that Allie went to bed within 15 minutes, but those 15 minutes were so sweet.

Soon I'll be able to participate in Phantom Scribbler's growing-larger-by-the-minute discussion thread!