Triumphs and Failures Tuesday: Good night! Good night!

Back from a short hiatus (parenting is a busy job!), it's your favorite weekly-ish parenting blog: Triumphs and Failures Tuesday! A weekly post where I share a parenting triumph or failure.

This week, a triumph! But don't say it too loudly, or you'll wake X...

"Good night! Good night!" my son exclaimed, lying down on his new toddler bed. "My bed! My bed!" And, though his face was half buried in a pillow decorated with planes, trains, and automobiles, I could see the ear-to-ear smile on his face. He was even more excited than me and Laya for this big step in growing up. He was so excited that he wanted to go sleep right then and there, but it was only 5pm. "Tonight is going to be a cinch," I thought to myself.

We had told X about beds way before that day. Way before that day. He had seemed interested in something we had deemed "better than a crib." And, months later, he got even more excited when we went to Ikea to get him the Mygga. But, after finally getting the bed and having it sit in our study for a few more weeks after that (we're not the only parents who take forever to get things done, right? Right?), I finally got the chance to paint and assemble it. 

When my wife and I called him into his bedroom to see it for the first time, his eyes lit up, and he dove on to it like it was love at first sight. At that moment, I felt like Professor Higgins after the Embassy Ball, Colonel Pickering patting me on the back and exclaiming, "You did it," accomplishing something others had claimed to be near impossible: getting a kid to sleep alone in his bed.*

Fast forward to our nightly routine of reading a book and prayer. X wanted to skip all that. Read a book? Nah. Prayer? Quickly, Mommy and Daddy, quickly. He was ready to get to bed and couldn't be bothered with anything else. This was one of those moments when I thought to myself, "What is everyone complaining about? This parenting stuff is easy."

So, Laya and I said our goodnights and began to leave the room. As I looked back to X’s bed, I expected to see X with his eyes closed and a big smile on his face, happy with himself that he had leveled up to a bed today. Yet, what I saw was X getting up, picking up his toys, and running after us. When I told him that it was time for sleep and that he had to sleep in his bed, he let out a loud cry, as if to say, "Wait, I have to sleep in that thing?!"

After my wife tried to console him, and then after X made a break for the living room, I took him back to his bedroom, lay him on his bed, and promised to stay with him, sitting next to him on a rocking chair. It took a while for him to fall asleep at that point. He would lift his head up every now and then to see if I was still there sitting next to him, especially when I would try to creep out. But he finally drifted off, and I was able to sneak out of the room.

I foresee a few more days or weeks of having to sit next to him while he falls asleep. But I still consider this a triumph, especially considering the many nights his crying and screaming filled the entire house while learning how to sleep by himself in his crib. Plus, he doesn't seem to mind me on my phone as he falls asleep, so, while he's catching some z's, I can "catch 'em all" on Pokemon Go.

*From My Fair Lady. Watch it or at least Wiki it.