Well my teenager has shown her teenage colours this week big time. She’s been rather putrid, mainly at bedtime.
Beth’s always been hard to get to sleep but will usually have one really bad night every few months. These are the nights when she doesn’t seem to sleep at all. She’s sleeping in with me now as I don’t know what she’ll get up to in her own room without me checking on her. She loves this but she hates me snoring or even breathing loudly as I drift of. We’ve had several bad nights this week. Here’s a sample of one of these delightful interations :
I am falling asleep so Beth makes a really loud noise to wake me up. This happens in the form of a harrumphing noise, to her bouncing on the bed, to her running from the kitchen back into the bedroom like a herd of buffaloes, with her pinching my nostrils shut or to her just yelling at me. This night it was all but the nose pinching. This happened several times with me saying that I’d turn the tv off. Now I know the tv isn’t the best thing in the bedroom at night (depending who you’re asking) but as Beth will wreak havoc if she’s not tired and has nothing to do we often have it on to fall asleep to. This also means that I can usually go to sleep and not worry. So if you’re an anti tv in the bedroom person then sorry but it’s whatever gets you through the night in my house! Anyway …..
Finally I said to Beth that I was going to turn the tv off if she didn’t keep waking me up. Usually we have a doozy of a fight on these nights and the threat of doing it on subsequent nights stops her from waking me. Most nights I say as I feel myself drifting off “Wake me and I’ll turn the tely off, understand?” and she agrees. Well not this night baby. I threatened it twice and finally (after the herd of buffaloes) I took the remote away and turned the tely off. Well the wailing that went on. “I make the decision on whether to have the tv on” or “You mean just for five minutes don’t you Mum, yes Beth five minutes, ok Beth five minutes is up” all in a high pitched voice. Or “Beth I’ve changed my mind, you’re a good girl, here’s the remote back.” She likes to pretend that it’s me talking, I don’t know if she really thinks I may not realise that I haven’t actually spoken the words! This went on for ages and she started using a really quiet voice which I hate cos she does it as I drift off to sleep. By then end I had not only banned the tv but also her ipad for the next day. And she just wouldn’t stop. I even threatened to put masking tape over her mouth, something that usually works as I did do it briefly once (don’t worry, it was the papery kind) and it worked a treat.
So there was me drifting off and I hear “Henry (the cat) pass me the remote so that Mum doesn’t see.” Or calling to the other side of the room “Goodnight ipad, I’ll see you in the morning.” I can laugh about it now but it’s so bloody tiring at the time! Every time I went to sleep I’d hear her in the loo or getting a drink of water, it could be 1am and she’d still be awake. Usually when this happens she’s good for the rest of the week but all week she’s been up late and giving me lip. Wednesday night she even said “But I always get my own way” when I wanted to watch Offspring instead of The Simpsons. And a little bonus we found last night was a nice big zit forming on her chin. Looks like teenagerhood is well and truly upon us folks!
