Honestly, I'm more than happy to be the one to put Natalie to bed, the little ham, but once the sun has set and bedtime approaches and she gets to her room for bed, she wants NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING, to do with ANYONE who isn't ME!
Dh has put her down before, puts her down for naps no sweat if I'm not home, but bedtime, fageddaboutit!!!!
She doesn't just cry - she SCREAMS bloody murder. When I come in the room at long last, she sobs and snuffles into me and falls asleep still breathing a little raggedly from crying so hard, poor thing - she is just shy of puking, she's crying so hard.
To top it off, I'm usually in the next room trying to get J to bed, and I end up trading places with DH and then going back to J's room 5 minutes later once N's gone down for ME after 20 straight minutes of bloodcurdling yelling at the top of her lungs for DH. Poor guy is starting to get a complex, KWIM? She loves him to death, seeks him out, plays with him while she's awake, but come bedtime, it's like only the smell and feel and sound of Mommy will do. Having me in the room with him doesn't work - she has to be on MY lap for a few minutes to snuggle, and it has to be ME in the room with her once she's in her crib for a couple minutes while she begins to wind down, and then she's fine on her own - just not with DH. Ditto for night wakings - I swear her yells would wake the neighborhood and I wouldn't be surprised to see men with badges at my door at 1AM wondering what we're doing to our kid!!!
Anyway, when I'm not there, it seems to be a trust-breaking issue with my HIGHLY Spirited sweetie, so I'm loath to just MAKE her go to bed with DH if I don't have to resort to that w/o losing my sanity. And forget about a sitter; she has to be sleeping/napping and it has to be someone she knows so even though she'll still scream bloody murder, at least it won't be to an unfamiliar scary face.
Anyone have any advice? Josie is stubborn, but this one has her beat by a WIIIIIIDE mile on this issue!
