The bedroom haircut didn’t happen last night. Josiah had other plans. Do you think he knew what I was up to? How could he possibly know I had full intentions of finishing his bathtub haircut? The boy had NO desire to sleep last night.

He has a new bedroom. He’s in a different bed. We recently switched some kids around now that the 2 older girls are away at College. We figured it was best to move Josiah back down stairs, closer to the Master bedroom.

He was often waking in the night and wandering down to our room anyway. Figured it was best for him to be off the stairs in the middle of the night. We also figured it would be easier to help him maintain a better bedtime routine if we didn’t have to keep walking him back up to his bedroom at night. It’s much easier to walk him down the hall and around the bend.

So, last night, I tucked Josiah in. I prayed for him. I sang to him. I walked away and sat down in his large bean bag chair we recently moved out of the family room and into his room. And I waited. I waited for Josiah to breathe deeply, to roll over and to fall into a relaxing sleep. Writing that even makes me laugh. Who was I kidding? I knew it would take a while for him to nod off. I just figured he would fall asleep before I did. Nope.

Here’s what actually happened. I started out lounging in the beanbag chair, reading a book while Josiah bounced wildly on his bed. He bounced. He giggled. He bounced. He squealed. He bounced. He kicked the wall. He bounced some more. I turned off the light. Maybe the darkness would encourage peacefulness. I turned on quiet, calming music. Maybe soothing sounds would induce sleep. I wrapped him in a soft, cuddly fleece blanket. Maybe the extra pressure would make a difference.  I wrapped myself in a soft, cuddly fleece blanket also. It worked. Almost immediately, I was fast asleep. Josiah however, was not.

Many, many, many times he climbed out of his bed and attempted to leave the room. Since the bean bag chair was right next to the door, fortunately, I woke each time and guided him back to his bed. We played out this scenario more times than I ever thought possible. Eventually, Josiah was getting the message. After a few hours I noticed he resorted to just dangling his legs off the edge of the bed, just inches above the carpet. He’d hang there and wait to see if there was any reaction on my part. If nothing happened, every once in a while, he’d take that as his ‘go’ signal and make another attempt for the door.

This is the part that amazed me. That boy is so smart. He figured out  he needed to be very quiet and move slowly so as not to wake me. I watched him. He’d slowly slip out of the bed and walk very carefully to the door. He’d stop right in front of it and wait. If nothing happened, he’d ever so gently reach for the door knob.

That’s when I’d make my move. I’d stand up, take his hand and direct him back to his bed. As you can imagine I got very little sleep. Josiah got even less. Eventually, he resorted strictly to kicking the wall, hard. Then, eventually the kicking stopped, the bouncing ceased and I just remember being really glad it had. It was 1:15 am. We had started this bedtime routine at 9 pm. That’s over 4 hours. It took over 4 hours for Josiah to relax enough to sleep. WOW.

So, I had no energy to attempt a bedroom haircut last night. This morning however, I did venture in his room with scissors and comb in hand. He was sleeping peacefully. I carefully ran my fingers through the back of his hair to see if there was any response. Nothing. I gingerly laid the scissors under the longest strand of hair at the nape of his neck. I must have gotten too close and touched his skin with the cold metal. He jerked. I yanked the scissors away. He turned his head and covered his hair with his hand, still sleeping.

Those ladies down at the salon are not going to be happy. I anticipate a visit there very soon.