Sleeping in the Snow

I've been trying to make the process of getting ready for naps and bedtime a little more fun to minimize the wear on the carpet and on my nerves.  We've been having a hard time getting Holland to go to sleep let alone sleep in her bed.  In fact, she hasn't slept in her bed for quite a while.  Ever since I gave her a little sleeping bag she's been determined to get every use out of it possible.  I told Jaret today that if she's not going to sleep in her bed we may as well put it down in the crawl space so Holland doesn't keep getting stuck under it as she rolls around at night.  I just took it out of her room tonight and if she doesn't suddenly decide it's the coolest thing in the world after tomorrow it's going into storage until BrookE can claim it...at which point I'm certain Holland will finally have a change of heart and we'll have a fight.

Yesterday, just as I'm finishing up story time, Holland gets this great idea:  "I want to sleep out on the snow." We had 10" of fresh snow.  My first initial reaction is to tell her no and proceed to explain why she wouldn't like it because it would be too cold.  Instead I decide she can find out by experience.  "Okay, you can either sleep in your warm sleeping bag in your room or in the cold snow outside."  

So, she tells me exactly how it should have a blanket on the bottom and she was sure to grab one for the top along with her pink basketball pillow.  I laid her blanket on top of the snow on the concrete close to the front door keeping her far from the road and hoping she wouldn't get the idea to get up and run around in the muddy snow near by.  '

"She'll last one minute," I thought to myself.  I stood by the window spying on my creative little dare devil  with the camera.  I waited in amazement.  She laid there trying to go to sleep for probably five minutes until the blowing wind and soaking wet snow nudged her over.  No, she wasn't ready to come inside, she just wanted to move closer to the door off of the snow onto the dry concrete.  Another two minutes or so and she was ready to come in.  "I'm cold, Mom."

I thought that giving her the two options ahead of time to either sleep in her bed or the snow would eliminate any tantrums and help her understand that she would have to sleep in her bed once she came inside.  Yeah, so much for minimizing the wear on the carpet and my nerves.  I would have been better off to have just said no.

I love you Holland!  Thanks for keeping life fun and exciting!