Wait A Minute, This 2 Kid Thing is Tough!

Scene from the Household Tonight:

The Problem: A tired Mom and Dad trying to put down two kids. Both children are over tired from a big day. Neither child wishes to cooperate. Smaller child is still afraid of crib, but will sleep through the night on a futon as long as not alone in the room when she falls asleep. Bigger child must be in bed by 8pm with three Dora stories read to completion, including voices, or a series of potty runs will begin.

The MeltDown: Tired Dad finishes third Dora story and mistakenly thinks tired larger child is ready to sleep. Tired child thinks otherwise and begins calling tired Mom. Tired Mom, thinking smaller child is asleep, goes to larger child, thinking she only needs a kiss. Larger child wants more stories. Smaller child awakens when larger child begins to wail for more stories. Smaller child only has one wailing volume and trust me on this, it is LOUD. This inspires larger child to wail louder in order to compete with younger sibling. Now, tired Dad comes back, thinking there is a home invasion robbery underway, only to find tired Mom standing between two bedrooms, not exactly sure which room she wants to enter, but quite certain she wants to enter neither.

The Solution: Tired Mom calms small child as she is still a little unsure of tired Dad when she needs comforting. Tired Dad reads larger child another Dora story. Thirty minutes later, all is quiet.

What have we gotten ourselves into?