Bedtime woes...

I realize that it is simply toddler behavior to NOT want to go to bed at night, I really do. That, however, doesn't make bedtime any less maddening around here.

RP has come a long way in the last 13 months. At 22 months old she was barely speaking Russian when she was adopted and brought to America, where she was inundated with English, a language she had never heard before she met me. At first she didn't speak at all, just observed everything with big brown eyes that were wary of everything she saw and heard. Then she moved into babbling. I'm not sure if the babbling was in Russian or English, or a hybrid of the two, but she would burst into babble, then shut herself off again, sometimes for a few minutes, sometimes for a few hours. By nine weeks home she had a vocabulary of about 30 English words - Mama, bye-bye, puppy, no - pretty much the basics. Since then her vocabulary and speech have really taken off, and she talks all the time. And I do mean ALL the time (gee, wonder where she gets THAT from?!?).

Would you like to fathom a guess as to when she puts that great vocabulary to use? Yep. Bedtime. Every night we have the same ritual - grab RP's pillow (which goes EVERYWHERE with her), head upstairs, put on pajamas, pick out a storybook, brush teeth, fill up the sippy cup with water, say prayers, read story, give kisses and snuggles, then music on, lights off, and it is bedtime. After all this I try to hang out upstairs for a few minutes to address any last minute requests such as "one more 'nuggle Mommy," "fix blankets/pillow please," or "more water Mama." It never fails, however, that once I head downstairs there is a litany of requests that come my way which typically are addressed as "RP get back in bed and go to sleep." Tonight this went on for almost an hour and a half and I was about at my wit's end. I'm not entirely sure what all she is able to do in a darkened room but she makes the most of it - toys out, books on the bed, blankets on the floor, etc. and so forth, all while keeping a fairly consistent running dialog with me about what she is doing that she isn't supposed to be doing, what she wants to do that she can't, or just checking in to see if I am ready to go to bed yet.

I know someday I'll look back on this and laugh but right now I'm too tired for that - and I just keep hearing myself say, "RP get that tushie back in bed right now" over... and over... and over...