Direct consequences.

Over this spate of winter weather, I must admit we watched more videos with Mozart than we should have.  Some happy/cute consequences, but also disturbing consequences, such as Mozart  yelling out repeatedly, and albeit cutely, "Daaaaaaaad." in a mimicking of Nemo (had to watch in honor of the storm).  The Wife would now like to trash that particular DVD.  We know we'll have to deal with the Dad question at some point, but we'd rather not start just yet.  Because we got into having more screen time than usual, Mozart also began to beg/demand having more.  This is very unflattering.  And then there is the sleep/night terror issue.

Mozart woke up last night just as we were going to sleep.  But he didn't just wake up.  He was up and terrified and inconsolable.  He wanted Mama.  Then I came and he wanted Mommy.  Really, he wanted us both to enclose him in a group hug for the rest of the night.  He kept saying "kerry" (scary), but he wouldn't say what had scared him*.  Then he kept talking about trains, which he has found scary in the past, but I wasn't convinced that was it.  Then I asked him if he hurt and he said no.  Wanting to be sure I asked him if his belly hurt. No. If his head hurt. No. If his ears hurt. No. If anything hurt. "Finger. Nail. Cut."  So I cut his fingernails.  Not because I really believed that they hurt, but as a way, hopefully, to distract him from whatever was hurting or scaring him.   I did not bring him "Stairs." (downstairs) to, "Watch. Trains." or for "Gogurt. Befast." per his request.  I raised the shades and showed him that it was nighttime, not breakfast time, and we sat and cuddled and talked for a little bit.   Then Mommy took over and she started the whole bedtime routine over again, initially amidst adamant screaming to the contrary, and finally got him to go to sleep. 

On her return to the bedroom, I informed the Wife that perhaps viewing Harry Potter was not the best choice for our 22 month old (!?!), to which she said, "Oh, nonsense."  I reminded her that while he is very cute when he holds up the DVD and says, "Howie." in a request, and he gets quite excited about the train and all of the flying about, that a maddened troll and a snarling three-headed dog (*he likely doesn't know the words for trolls or three-headed dogs), were sure to be a bad idea.  I place the responsibility of last night's disruption squarely on her shoulders, TVM, (and a little bit on mine for not putting it to a stop at the first request).

We will now be cutting back screen time.  He has already asked to watch Mouse, Trains, and Howie.  We have distracted by playing chase, giving raisins (another pint-size addiction), and generally running amok, but without the t.v. or other videos on.