Doorknobs and early wake-up calls

A few weeks ago, Brendan finally figured out how to open his bedroom door (mind you, he's been able to open other doors for a little bit now)...I was proud that he figured that out, but the pride quickly turned to annoyance!  With his newfound freedom, bedtime is now 10,000 times more difficult.  It's always taken him awhile to fall asleep, he'd toss and turn, talk, sing, and bang his feet against the wall...but now he does that AND tries to get out of his room.  Thank goodness for video monitors because we're able to see when he's about to make his escape, and we call through the door for him to get back into bed.  This means one of us needs to be on guard until he falls asleep.  I sure hope the novelty dies away quickly and that this is only a phase.  He thinks it's a hysterical game...we do not.

Which brings me to the morning...4:30 is the record so far.  I put him back to bed at 4:30, then he was up again at 5:00, then 5:15, then 5:30, and then 5:45...finally when he came padding down the hallway to my room at 6:00, I just tossed in the towel and got up.  Today he stayed in his room until 5:30, who would've thought I'd be happy that he slept until 5:30?!  That is ridiculous!  If he could sleep and/or stay in his room until 6:00 or even 6:30, I'd be one happy camper.  And Brendan is such a morning person, he wants to get right down to playing or having breakfast and he's so jolly about it.  He's so excited to start the day...good thing I'm a morning person (once I actually get out of bed and get going).  But then he's tired by mid morning and ready for a nap too early!  I have ordered from Amazon, one of those special clocks that tells the child when it's okay for them to leave the room.  It's my last hope.

And Brendan's behavior at 2 years 5.5 months...what happened to my good little boy and why was he replaced with the kid version of a dictator?!  Oh. My. Gosh.  Seriously, the hitting, the screaming, the tantrums, the talking back, the not listening, the smirking and laughing as we try to give time out or take away toys/privileges or talk with him about his behavior (boy oh boy, does that make me the most mad!).  He only reserves this behavior for mom and dad and sometimes the 4 grandparents and 2 uncles...other adults and children he acts like a perfect angel and no one believes me that he can be a holy terror!  I'm going to tell myself it's just a phase and when I look back at this blog entry a few years from now, I'll just laugh and say that was nothing, just a little phase.