Further tears before bedtime


So tonight it was my turn again to put Destroyer down. This would be the last time before her second birthday, and she marked it in style by being quite copacetic while I read her the story of Little Miss Magic, and then literally climbing the walls, screaming constantly for her mother, once I put the lights out and tried to get her to lie down.

“No Daddy, no!” the howls continued for quite some time, until she gave up climbing on me to open the door, and settled down on the floor, where she lay with her head on my legs, sobbing occasionally, and refusing utterly when I tried to make her more comfortable with a pillow to lie upon.

My wife went out to the shops and came back. I had planned to go running tonight, and do some strength exercises, but the biggest workout I got was trying to pick Destroyer up, and then having her howl in rage, and then I’d put her back down again.

After about an hour, I managed to coax her to change position, but this was no better; instead of me being stuck on the floor of her room, now I was carrying her around the room, still not permitted to put her down on the bed. Of course, the willpower of an adult eventually beats the shouting of a child, and when she was mostly asleep I got her to lay down on the bed. By the simple expedient of having her lie on top of me, so I was still stuck there with her.

My wife tried to open the bedroom door to see what was going on, but at some point Destroyer had managed to lock the door, so there was another ten minutes of noisy idiocy as she tried every damn key in the house twice before it finally clonked open, me constantly terrified this would presage another bout of shouting from Destroyer.

But no, it seems after an hour and ten minutes, she was admitting defeat. We can only hope that she’ll sleep through the night, all the way to her birthday. Perhaps I can start my exercise regime next week…


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