Tonight, for the first time since he’s been home after our vacation, Aidan let me put him to bed.

Since Gwen and Aidan arrived home last week, Aidan has been extremely cling. With Gwen.

In fact, all attempts by me to put him to bed were met (initially) with almost frantic screams: “No, Mommy! No, Mommy!!!” He would physically push me away and go into almost hysterical crying. He wouldn’t give me hugs, and for many days he wouldn’t even say “Goodnight” to me.

But it’s been slowly getting better, as we return to routine. Last night I got to read him a book, but Mommy had to read him a book afterwards, and then she put him to bed. But tonight, I did it all by myself! Changed into jammies, read the book (Down on The Farm by Merrily Kutner, illustrated by Will Hillenbrand), and put to bed without a single tear or cry for Mommy.

Maybe I’m forgiven.

And tomorrow we stir the pot by trying to go to the drive-in.

Aidan has developed the habit of needing bedtime songs, his favourite being “Baby Beluga” right now.

The following is perhaps not quite appropriate for bedtime, but is absolutely hilarious, sweet, and a little bit bone chilling as I contemplate things to come…

(seen on Parent Dish)

OK, on the sleep thing, we didn’t make out so well last night. The boy woke a little bit pretty much every hour, and his level of wakefulness increased each time he woke.

By midnight, he was fully awake again.

Gwen brought him into bed with us tried singing to him. His response was:

Mommy! No singing! Stop it! Enough! “N”-“O”! No more!

Yes, he spelled out “no” to make sure she got the point.

Later, he struck up a conversation that went something like this:

A: Mommy, what sound does a horse make?

G: When a horse is asleep, he sounds like …

A: What sound does an elephant make?

G: When an elephant is asleep, he sounds like…

A: What sound does a rhinoceros make?

G: … (stifling laughter) …

A: What sound does a pirate make?

A: “Arrrrrrrr!!!!!”

Fortunately we got him back into the crib with another bottle (oh, he’s going to be wet this morning) and he seemed to go to sleep after that. I hope we can get him to sleep soundly earlier tonight!

Anthony and I got to sleep sometime after midnight only to be wakened by a horrific scream in the alley out back. The screaming kept on going followed by a man yelling and the woman still screaming bloody murder. (Well no those weren’t her exact words, but it really sounded bad.) There was also a dog (obviously big) barking loudly. The. Whole. Time.

Anthony decided to grab some pyjama pants and run outside to see what was happening. He didn’t take a phone, nor shoes, nor shirt, but went outside and yelled at the couple to see if everything was alright. Mom was up on the balcony and asking if she should call the police, and a bunch of people from the front of our complex came out back to see what was going on. I grabbed some clothes and went upstairs to get the phone that was working so I could call 911 if needed.

The view from the balcony was kind of strange. A number of people were outside in various states of dress, what turned out to be a police officer with a police dog, a couple of plain clothes police officers and unmarked cars, and a woman who was tracked to a garage alcove in the complex behind us after allegedly stealing something. The police officer with the dog was yelling at the bystanders to calm down “She did a thief,” or something to that ungrammatically correct effect. So we had in our alley a “police incident.” It was very loud and frightening (the woman sounded like she was being assaulted,) and a big burst of adrenalin for the second time that night.

I tell you waking up to a woman screaming like that is very very disturbing. I can only thank god that Aidan slept through the whole thing.

Getting back to sleep was difficult. Not only did we have the after effects of the adrenalin push, but it stayed noisy and confusing in the alley for quite a while. About ten minutes after Anthony got back inside (fully admitting that he really should have put on some shoes and brought a phone) it got quite loud outside again. The woman yelling “You have already told me my fucking rights. I don’t want to hear them again.” The police officer(s) obviously telling her again. The paramedics doing something or other but not using the siren. Again I say thank god Aidan didn’t wake up.

I suppose there are several pieces of good news in this scenario.

1. Anthony wasn’t hurt and now realizes that if you go out to help a screaming woman (he did stay far away and ask if she needed help) you first put on shoes and bring a phone.
2. Aidan didn’t wake up.
3. Anthony finished listening to his audiobook since he didn’t get back to sleep till after 3 am.
4. I realized once and for all that I do not want to be a police officer. (Not that I was actually thinking of changing careers.)
5. It gives my mom a good story to tell when she gets back home.
6. I got to use the word “allegedly” in a grammatically correct manner, I think. and
7. It makes one hell of a blog post.

(Cross posted at Left Coast Mama.)