A Moderate Success

I wish the Bee-Be-Gone (aren't I clever?) spray was working better than it is.

Despite being in constant use since Friday, the placebo effects are not what I'd like to be seeing.

Saturday night, Large Fry was up and downstairs twice after bed.  We gaped at each other in shock after her third trip down, the one she was told would result in discipline.  She didn't care; she was ready to accept it.  Hubby couldn't believe it.  But after that, she stayed in bed.

Last night...oy.

Last night, she came downstairs before she even got her teeth brushed, in tears and panicky, because there was a bug in the bathroom.

Which we knew already, because Medium Fry had come downstairs to inform us of this not thirty seconds before.

Hubby went up to dispatch the "bee" that both Medium and Large insisted was present in the hall bath.

He came down, irritated at having had to get up (yesterday was exceptionally long for him), and not having a bug in any line of sight to squash.

I went up a few minutes later to tuck the kids in.  Small Fry still needed to finish brushing her teeth, so I sent Medium and Large downstairs to give Hubby hugs and kisses.  Small was still brushing when they came back up, so I opted to tuck Large in first.  She told me she'd already sprayed her Bee-Be-Gone.  Good deal.  And there was a bug.  Oookay...yup, a small spider.  It was quickly dispatched.

I pulled up her covers.  I turned on her radio.  I gave her a hug and a kiss and asked her what she wanted me to pray for.  "Everything," she said.  "The whole world."

Well, there's a tall order for a bedtime prayer.

I prayed.  Another hug, kiss, and "I love you."

Time to tuck in the twins, having had to shoo Small Fry out of Large's room and to her own while I was still tucking in Large Fry.

Hugs and kisses times two, prayers for good dreams, and exhortations to be quiet and go to sleep.

Large's door was open again as I closed the twins' door.  I went back down the hall.  "Why are you up?"

"I forgot to pray for you!"

Yeah, like I was gonna argue with that one.  I climbed up one rung on her ladder and she prayed for me.  More hugs and kisses.

I went back downstairs and faced my pile of copy editing.  I got through two articles (a total of 31 pages) and called it a night, going up to bed.

While I was in the bathroom, I heard Large's door--her room is right next to ours--open and close.  And open and close.  I went down the hall to check things out, finding her standing just outside her room.  A bug, she told me.

We went into her room, turned on the light, and sure enough, there's a spider up by the ceiling near the foot of her bed.  I climbed up, dispatched the spider, and settled Large back in her bed.  I turned on her radio, assured her that everything was fine, and said she needed to go back to sleep.

That was at 12:30a.

Not ten minutes later, she's opening and closing her door again.

Time for the big guns.

I called Hubby's cell, not wanting to shout down the stairs.  I told him I needed him to come up and why.

He came up, reassured her, got her settled in bed again.  He went back downstairs.  I went back to getting ready for bed.  And within five minutes, Large Fry was up again.  I met Hubby coming back up the stairs as I came down the hall to see what was up.  I happily let him have it.

I finished up my bedtime routine, and heard Large whimpering that she needed her angel bear.  Her angel bear would protect her.  I went in to help look, and found that Hubby had loaded up nearly every stuffed friend that Large had, so she wouldn't be alone while she slept.  Hubby found the angel bear, and reminded Large that she was not alone.

That's when she said that there was a bee, so being among friends wasn't going to help.  It was behind her door.

"Where?" we both demanded.

"It's a pretend bee, down at the bottom."  The same rust spot that she screamed, a week ago, was a real bee.

Progress.  At least she knows it's not real.

She was up one more time before I finally fell asleep, and I had Hubby handle that.  Thankfully, it seemed that she was only up to use the potty.

I need more brilliant ideas for combating this.