The Bedtime Wars -- A Saga of One Mother And Her Quest For Night Time Sanity

The battle began nearly a year ago. For you, people who may or may not be out there in cyberspace, I offer the details of that first battle.

February 6, 2007 -- Night one in the Battle of the Bedtime Wars is complete and the superpower of Mommyville claims a hardwon victory...a victory that could have only been claimed by conceding some points to the army of one that I will refer to as Toddlerdom. It wasn't easy, as Toddlerdom has a shaky alliance with an older and more experienced general that I will refer to as the Wise Old Six Year Old (General WOSO for short). What is Mommyville fighting for? Toddlerdom and General WOSO sleeping in their own beds, by themselves, by 8:00. It will be a tough, uphill climb, what with so many temptations that may finally break the resolve of Mommyville, like missing my favorite shows while fighting on an important front -- namely the small concession of laying down with Toddlerdom for security while she dozes off to sleep for the first couple of nights -- but TV is for the weak and I shall not fail and raise the white flag of surrender. Or perhaps giving in to fatigue and irritability because if Toddlerdom just has her way (staying up until 10:00 playing with her stuffed aminals) then I don't have to fight and I won't miss my shows -- but no, I must stay the course -- because the end means well behaved children. The end means no more morning battles to get Toddlerdom and General WOSO out of bed and fed before 7:15a. The end means MOMMY TIME! It is 9:30pm and all is quiet on the front lines. Toddlerville and General WOSO are sleeping (this is me doing the silent cabbage patch dance right here). Tomorrow is another day and tomorrow night another battle...