The Cashmonster

Cash is a challenge. he is a totally different boy than from a year ago - obviously. but if you has asked me a year ago i would have told you that he was perfect and that he'll always be perfect. no so. he is a great kid and lots and lots of fun. he is so funny and witty and has amazing comedic timing (whether he knows it or not). Chandler and I often remark that we love him so much during the day we just wish the sun would never set. He is an actual werewolf or vampire or gremlin. Choose whatever analogy you like, something happens to the kid when the sun goes down. He turns into a sassy, misbehaving, opinionated, rude little stinker who will fight us until midnight to not go to bed. we've tried everything (which i believe to be the root of the problem) and nothing seems to work to get the kid to sleep. you all know that we used to be able to put him in bed, turn around and walk away and it would be 7am before we would hear from him again. now he's up until midnight, waking in the night and up at 5am. something ain't right. we can't seem to get him to stay in bed or not cry for hours. door closed, door open - doesn't matter. rewards charts - puuhh-leeeeze. incentives - nope. discipline - ha! staying with him seems to be the only thing that works but still that takes hours. Chandler and i have really come to our whit's end with this problem. last night i was wishing that the Supper Nanny would come flying down our chimney.
i know we have to figure out a plan and stick with it. we thought that was locking him in his room and letting him cry it out but this kid can cry it out for hours. and that's a lot easier said than done when you have a baby sleeping in the next room. And then he threw a wrench in that plan when he said that he wanted the door open (another tactic on his part but it hit me right in the mommy-heart). so now we were trying the "trust" plan. "we'll leave the door open if you can stay in your bed" - didn't happen.
anyway, Martinville is the new City that doesn't Sleep