The Bedtime Battle...it's coming.

Bedtime is for losers....

Some people have anxiety about things like flying, taking a test, or public speaking. My anxiety kicks in oh right around 6:50pm. I know that bedtime is coming. It's right around the corner! I'll honestly sometimes delay starting the whole bedtime show because I'm not prepared for the battle. 

Bedtime is not a new thing at our house. I'm not sure about your home, but here we go to sleep every night. Yes! Surprising I know, but every night we like to sleep. We say our prayers. We close our eyes. We lay in our cozy beds. We drift off to dreamland. 

Well that's not entirely true. There is a tiny one of us who seems surprised each night by this bedtime nonsense. Little Em is taken aback each evening when we gently let her know that it's almost bedtime. It is earth shattering news. 

From this point we will go through our bedtime routine. Then we spend a good two hours on average convincing her that sleep is fun. I'm not sure what her aversion to it is. I love sleep. I would sleep the day away if I could. Nap? Yes! Early bedtime? Yes! Sleep in late? Yes! For Em? Not so much. 

Emily certainly can not sleep before she has 2.3 million sips of water or milk. She will also need to fake pee or poop a few times. She will be scared of everything. She wants her blanket. Her blanket is smothering her. It's too dark. The night light hurts her eyes. Don't forget things like she is Ariel and Ariel doesn't sleep...

Her bear told her she can stay awake...

Her eyes don't like it when they are closed...

So bedtime is a struggle. We've tried everything we can think of. We've talked with her doctor and she assured us Em is healthy and a lot of kids her age have trouble going to bed. Some things work for a while and then we return to this land of WHAT IS GOING ON? I do find comfort in the fact that I'm almost 100% sure most college aged kids don't still need their mom to sit by the bed, but don't look at them because they don't want to be looked at... 

Do you have bedtime troubles? Do you have amazing advice? Please share!