Because you all want to know ...

I know the only reason you are reading this today is because you want to know how the night went. Well, I am a failure. Somewhat. And I'm OK with that for now. Because I'm tired. Here's a brief rundown of the night:

Before bed Kendall and I talked about what would happen if she came in after we went to bed (ie. no talking, putting back in bed, leaving). She said she would stay in her bed until the sun came up. (And I believed her. I thought, "Wow, that was really easy!") She came in at 10:15 (yes, 15 minutes after I got in the bed). I put her back in her bed, gave her a kiss, and told her goodnight. I left. At 10:30, she stood outside my bedroom door for about 8 minutes before slowly creeping in to tell me she had to go potty. I took her potty, put her back in her bed, and left. At 10:47, she came back down the hallway. I picked her up, put her back in her bed, and walked out. I figured I was keeping Tim up, so I decided just to stay in the hallway or the kitchen. So I stood ... waiting. About every 10-15 minutes, Kendall would exit her room, I would scoop her up and put her back to bed. She never cried or said anything to me. This continued for about 2 hours. At 12:15, I put her back to bed and she stayed for about 25 minutes. I decided that if she hadn't come out after 5 more minutes (this would have been 12:45), I was going to bed. Low and behold, at 12:45, she came out. So I scooped her up and put her back in bed.
Boring, hunh? Imagine doing it for one more hour, the whole time thinking that this was a waste of time because we are going to the beach in 3 weeks and why don't I just wait until she is out of school for a week in November.
At 1:55 I decided that I was going to collapse and be very cranky the next day (which wouldn't be fair to Tanner) and that Kendall was going to be horrible at school (which is unfair to her teacher and classmates). I had put her back in he bed a total of 30 times. (I kept a tab so I could show it to her this morning.) So I gave in. And we both fell fast asleep.
Yes, I caved. But, thanks to my wonderful supportive BFF, I can appreciate some of the successes of last night:
1) Kendall did not dart out of the room as soon as I walked out.
2) Kendall did not scream.
3) Kendall did not cry.
4) Tanner was not bothered at all (ergo, he slept all night).
5) I still got about 4 1/2 good sleep hours in.

These are all improvements over the last time we tried this. So perhaps, tonight will be better. Or worse.
If you have tried to call or email me and ask how it went, this is why I did not answer. I do not like admitting defeat. And I don't like hearing, "I told you so's" or "You know, I went through the same thing." So we'll try it again tonight. And tomorrow night. Maybe by Saturday she'll be so exhausted and tired of not being able to play on the computer that she'll do what I want her to!
Stay tuned ...