Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Since our move to Vancouver, WA. Quincy has done relatively well with all the new changes....that was until last Tuesday.

Our child went from being Dr. Jekyll: giving hugs, saying "I love you", giving sweet kisses, rubbing our shoulders, sharing his toys, and saying "please" and "thank you"............to Mr. Hyde at bedtime.

It was like night and day. Suddenly after announcing that it was time for bed, like we do each night, he freaked. It was like a flip switched and he became a totally different person. He was screaming, yelling, flailing his body around, hitting and so on. I began to wonder what about this particular night was so different from the previous one.

As I ran through our activities from the previous night I concluded that indeed, there was nothing significantly different about this night from the last and it was just one of those 'terrible twos' moments you hear about.

Not only has Quincy learned how to sucessfully climb out of his crib in the last 3 months (which has resulted in us leaving the front of it off), but he has also learned how to open the bedroom door. Fun times here, let me tell you.

Those good old days of locking him up in the crib prision and knowing that he was safe are long gone. Now he has discovered freedom, and it hasn't always been pretty. Like Tuesday night for example.

After trying everything................being nice, then stern, then trying to reason with him, then threatening him with discipline..............nothing was working. Finally we put him in his room to which he responded by hopping out of his crib and tearing all of his toys off his shelves and heaving them onto the floor.

I finally resorted into sitting with him in his room. I figured he was tired by this time and he would be out cold soon. Boy oh boy was I wrong! I sat by his crib for an HOUR... during which he would closely keep a one eye watch on me, despite being able to barely hold one eyelid open! I finally concluded that it was ridiculous for me to sit there....plus I was entirely exhausted at this point, which happened to be a 12:30AM, and left to go to bed.

He protested by crying and running straight for me to the door. I said goodnight and stood by the door holding it shut (seeing as how he's smartened up). After another half hour of doing this, to no avail, I marched into our bedroom grabbed his binky and came back to shove it in his mouth.

The kid was beside himself and I was running out of paitence. Part of me considered that it would be easy to let him sleep with with us or possibly sleep in his room, but the wiser part thought that might have more serious long term consequences. Finally around 4:00AM he went to sleep. We were both exhuasted from our long night. Since then, it has been better....................there was just that one moment we experienced both Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

I hope to NEVER see them again.