Night Owl

Our relatively pleasant and uneventful day turned into a rather dramatic night. Ben didn't get home until after the girls were in bed, but thanks to dinner at our friends' house (thank you again, Amanda!) all three girls were in good spirits as they were bathed, read to, and put down to bed. Then around 9:15pm, Molly began SCREAMING. Not sure why, as usual. After 10 minutes or so, Ben tried to go in and soothe her. He did a great job, too - until he put her back in bed and left the room. Then it was the end of the world as we know it, or at least that's what you'd think if you heard Molly's screeches. Finally at 10pm, I'd had enough. I went in to the room and actually told Molly, "Enough!" She immediately stood up and held her hands up to be picked up. Instead, I hugged her for a few seconds, then proceeded to sit on the floor next to her bed and play solitaire on my tablet. At first this was VERY not okay, and Molly let me know she was not happy with me at all. But all the while I had my hand rested on her knee, her ankle, her hand, and eventually she sat down. A few minutes later, she managed to stop crying, and was left gasping for breath as kids do after they've been sobbing their eyes out for an hour. Finally, she lay herself down, took a good 10 minutes or so to get comfortable, and went to sleep. I snuck out of the room at 10:25pm, a little stiff but feeling pretty good about the whole ordeal. I want my kids to feel safe at all times, and to know that Ben and I are always here when they need us. However, I'm also a big advocate of them having their OWN sleeping space. Molly sleeps best in her own bed - sleeping in our bed never goes well for anyone. I hope that Molly finally fell asleep knowing that while I did not pick her up and hold her all night, I still love her and will be there for her when she wakes up in the morning - hopefully AFTER the sun comes up.