The Battle

I am a public relations director and as such I communicate for a living.  I would have to say that I think I am good at my job, therefore I believe that I am an effective communicator.  That being said I also believe that Grace was put on this earth to test my communication skills and show me my weaknesses as a communicator.

Grace, sweet Grace, is a night owl and all you have to do is mention the word bed and then the horns and pointy tail come out (disclaimer that she seems to save her horns and tail just for mom and dad and no one else that puts her to bed be it Nana, Papa, or a babysitter).  So last night was no surprise when we finished watching Jake and Neverland Pirates and Ella (the good child for the night) ran into go potty and headed upstairs without even being asked.  Grace on the other hand began to tell me all the reasons she was not capable of walking to the bathroom to go potty.  "My legs are tired."  "I miss my papa." "I don't have to potty."  As a good communicator I heard what she was saying and said, "Grace I know you don't want to go potty, but do you think that you could try for me?"  (thanks to working at a school district I also know a few BIST behavior tricks).  "No I don't have to potty," she screamed. 

After getting her into the bathroom and set on the potty I once again heard her say "I don't have to go potty."  Now for those who say she may not really have to go let's rewind to last week when she said that 3 times and came back down after being in bed for 5 minutes because she had to go potty since her tinkle just woke up after being put in bed.  Now that you know you will understand why she was made to sit there for 1 minute and try to make sure that her tinkle was not sleeping. 

I explained in my calm voice that we were heading for bed and it was her turn to turn on the nightlights.  She disagreed and proceeded to kick her feet on her bedroom floor because she thought the fan needed to be turned up higher.  I calmly explained that the fan was fine and placed her in bed.  As she screamed at Stacey and I we gave her a kiss and walked out.  The ear piecing scream of MOMMY made me come back in the room.  At this point my skills I use at work would still be in calm mode, but at home I was done for the night and I just needed this little "angle" to be quite!  Since she was making herself cough I knew it was only a matter of time before she puked everywhere in her bed just to get her way so why not yell, "Grace you will stop crying and you will go to bed now." 

Grace and her puking won and she got to stay up another half hour while she got another bath, clean pjs, clean sheets, and 5 minutes to find a replacement bear bear to keep her happy.

You may have one last night little missy, but mommy is older, wiser, and has been communicating longer so I will win this fight in the end (I figure if I keep telling myself that I won't feel like my education and training as failed me when I need it most :)