Or Else

Tyler has lately been issuing ultimatums to Sawyer left and right, on the order of, "Sawyer, I won't let you have this Star Wars ship unless you promise to give it back when I ask for it" or "Sawyer, you may only come in my room if you promise to leave my stuff alone." Now don't get me wrong, Tyler and Sawyer play together all day long and have a wonderful time, but Tyler is just a little particular about his Star Wars stuff and doesn't want anyone messing with it (even though I have told him time and again that Sawyer shows the same interest in it that Tyler did at his age!). Evidently, a little of Tyler has been rubbing off on me because I did a little bargaining of my own with Sawyer yesterday.

Sawyer no longer takes an afternoon nap. I have grown quite used to this. However, to offset the sleep he does not get during the day, I have begun putting him to bed at 7:00 p.m. Just about the only days on which this plan is not feasible are Sundays and Wednesdays. Church services begin at 6:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., respectively, so a 7:00 bedtime just isn't in the cards. Now, I guess I should amend my earlier statement when I said Sawyer no longer takes an afternoon nap. Actually, he usually gets one on Sunday afternoons, but that is because Randy persuades Sawyer to lie down with him and they both snooze for a while. I'm sorry, but I simply don't have time to lie down with Sawyer during the week. I'd love to, but I don't. My point is, however, that it's not a problem to put Sawyer to bed a little later on Sundays because he has typically gotten some rest in the afternoon.

Wednesdays are more problematic. He missed the last two weeks due to illness, but last night everybody was healthy and making plans to attend Bible class. Late in the afternoon, around 4:30, I said, "Sawyer, how would you like to go lie down and get some rest before Bible class tonight?" "Um . . . no thanks," he said. Then he said, "May I have some ice cream?" So I, in my brilliant parental wisdom, said, "How about this. What if you go lie down now and when you wake up I'll give you some ice cream?" His reply? "Oh, that would be FANTASTIC!" Problem solved.