Unusual
I have to blog this before I forget – but first, a little background information.
We've gotten into (what I think is a bit of) a bad habit re. getting SPL to sleep for naptime when he can't do so himself: we drive him for 20 mins or so in the car.
So, today followed a similar pattern of him declaring he was ready for nap, our proceeding to his room, him crawling into bed, my reading 4 stories and then him (looking *incredibly* tired), "popping" up out of his bed and declaring that he's not napping or that "we should drive in the car."
Today he added a new twist declaring he "had to have a pillow." Keep in mind, he doesn't sleep with a pillow AND the pillow he was requesting was one of the 2'X2 1/2' couch pillows. I have to say, exhaustion turns a relatively easy going almost-3 year old into the most obsessed, emotional child you have seen. He got *so* unsually upset: from his inner being crying and expressing anger, frustration — you name it! All of it came pouring out of him as we were organizing to get in the car.
My compromise was to put said pillow in the seat right next to him.
Oh no. That was not good enough. :-) He wanted it behind his head.
But I held my ground and told him it could not go behind his head — even offered him a neck pillow but that wasn't going to do it either.
Well, long story long — we drove for about 5 mins with him screaming and crying about the pillow and he finally fell asleep.
So the funny part is this – -when I brought him home 15 mins later and got him out of the car carefully, he literally picked up *right* where he left off! "Mommy, I want that pillow behind my head. Not sitting on the chair. I want it now!………"
It was all I could do not to start laughing as the emotions just poured out of him again in his sleeping stupor (along the lines of those comedies which use the line "and futhermore….." after having fallen asleep in a meeting, gotten busted, and are trying to cover for their faux pas).
The ending is happy though — he's been sleeping now for almost 3 hours now. Ok, time to wake him up :-).