A Love/Hate Relationship

Between 7:30 and 9:00 p.m. every night is like living in a nightmare. This is the time period of night that I start getting That Other Kid ready for bed. And I have a love/hate relationship with it.

Once he is finally asleep and all is well is my favorite time of the night. This is ME time, but it is also the time of night I fold mounds of laundry, load the dishwasher, clean up all the messes of the day and finally get to sit down and do what I want on my computer without having anyone climbing in my lap while I do it. I love this time! It is usually VERY QUIET...the only noise is the local news cast, or the noise of the dishwasher or toys being thrown back into the bins they came from.

However, the time before I actually get him to sleep is like a little bit of "h-e-double hockey sticks" on earth. I HATE this time of night....I start about 7:30 with a bath or occasionally a shower. This starts our rocky period of the night. Getting undressed usually goes pretty smooth, but actually getting into the bathtub usually requires a threat of a spanking. He wants to do at least 20 different things before actually getting into the water, all while wearing his birthday suit! Once he is in the bathtub, he wants to have his own rag to wash with, with EXCESSIVE amounts of soap....One little drop of water on his face while I wash his hair brings him to a tantrum screaming he has water in his eyes....get it out!! Trust me, there is NO WATER ANYWHERE CLOSE to his EYES! Once I get the soap out of his hair and convince him there is NO soap in his eyes, I put soap on my rag and wash his back, arms, etc. All the while he is soaping up his tummy and telling me he needs MORE soap, cuz he can still see skin, through the layers of soap! I refuse to give him more soap and tell him it is time to rinse the soap off....while listening to further whining and complaining about the injustice of it all!

I finally get him rinsed off and drain the bath water, and then he doesn't want to get out.... I think you get the idea .... every aspect of bedtime is H*ll. I don't remember bedtime being this tramatic with That Kid....Did I just block it??? or does everyone go through this senerio at bedtime????

Just curious if your household goes through this at bedtime....