O.K. So it turns out I may have been premature in my purchase of a tent enclosure for Josiah’s bed. It hasn’t arrived yet. When it does, I may not even take it out of the box. I may just contact the company for a shipping label and return it. Here’s why.

Josiah slept really well last night. No, he slept GREAT last night. The past few nights we have been following a consistent routine. He gets into bed. I pray and sing to him. I tuck him in. I sit in the bean bag chair and wait for him to drift off.

The first night took 4 hours. The next night it was just a couple of hours The night after that was even better, though I don’t have a time reference. Rick put him to bed that night. Last night, Josiah sought me out, grabbed my hand and walked me towards his room.

Wow. He’s either ‘getting’ this routine or he was really tired. Either way, I just knew he was going to fall asleep easily. Well, that’s what I thought, anyway. As soon as I was settled in the bean bag chair, the bouncing began. He was getting great height. He was having a blast. He didn’t seem tired anymore.

Chandler walked in. She snuggled up next to Josiah for a few minutes. She looked at me with an ‘I got this’ expression on her face. I had a phone call to make, so I walked out. In what seemed like less than 10 minutes Chandler came into my room. Josiah was not following behind her. I was stunned. “Is Josiah asleep”, I asked? I knew there was no way he could have fallen asleep THAT easily.

“No”, she said. “But, he will be soon”. “How did you know”, I asked? “Mom, you and Dad do it all wrong”, she said very matter-of-factly. “You just need to tuck him in and tell him he HAS to go to sleep. Then walk out.  He’ll start bouncing. Go back in, tell him he has to stop bouncing and go to sleep. Tell him you mean it. Then walk out. He’ll listen.”

She kissed me goodnight and went up to her bedroom. I smiled to myself. Oh, the innocence of youth. I knew Josiah would be crawling up over me any second, plopping down right next to me before bouncing vigorously on my bed.  But he didn’t. Chandler was right. Josiah stayed in his room. He slept through the night and was still in his own room when I went to wake him up this morning. I even woke at 2 am and went to check on him to be sure he was actually still in his own bed. He was. Incredible! I was impressed.

She doesn’t realize it. But Chandler just got herself a new job. After Josiah is all tucked in, after we’ve said his prayers, after he’s had a bedtime song and a hug and kiss from mom and dad, we are out of there. Chandler can take over at that point. She may be only 11. But now I’m anxious to see what other ‘magic’ this child possesses. What else is she quite capable of, that I’ve not known about?

Our van is in need of quite a few minor repairs. Hmmmmm…we may just have to get Chandler to take a look at it.