Power Struggle

Thursday

May192016

Mila has been being a jerk about sleep for a while now. When I say she's being a jerk, what I mean is that she sleeps great ... as long as she's touching me. Which, there are much worse problems to have. MUCH worse. Though, the fact that there are worse things doesn't make me like her nightly 1:00 am call. It's like clockwork -- she sleeps fine in her own bed until 1:00, and then it's done. She wants her mommy. NOW.

I can deal with that fine, in part because she makes up for it by staying asleep until somebody physically wakes her up. Every day Alexis barges in, nudges her sister awake, and we continue on. It's delightful that way because toddlers and showers don't mix.

Besides, it's better if I manage to take a shower before I have to act like an adult who is responsible for other humans. MUCH better.

Have I mentioned that I super like that I wake up before Mila every day? Because I SUPER like it.

Last night a miracle happened -- Mila went to sleep without a battle, she stayed asleep without a battle, and she STAYED IN HER OWN BED HUZZAH! I got like five straight hours of sleep, which hasn't happened in a looooong time. It was great! Amazing!

And then I walked down the hall to grab a towel so I could take a shower.

Mila's bedroom is across from the closet. At OH SO EARLY o'clock, I crept down that hall and glanced up to find a pair of blue eyes laser pointed at me.

We had a stare off.

Mila didn't make so much as a peep. She just stared at me. She bored a hole in my soul, as if challenging my very being. Her eyes dared me to do the right thing, except that I didn't know what the right thing was. Should I walk away and pretend I had no idea she saw me? Should I just stand there until she was distracted by something shiny? Should I throw something shiny at her?

I had no idea.

So we stared at each other.

And stared.

I finally broke. The laser beam eyes grabbed hold of my hair and yanked me towards Mila and I picked her up because FINE, YOU WIN, CHILD.

It wasn't until we were a solid three minutes into our stare-down and until Mila was safely in my arms that she broke the silence.

"Good job, mommy."

I'm so screwed.