He is so determined right now- but we're tired ..

Right now Ty has set up "camp" out in the front yard. For some reason out of no where he has decided he is going to sleep outside in the front yard by himself. He took his pillow, a blanket and a DVD player.

It first started out he said he was going to sleep in our little tree house in the front. He even ran an extension cord and plugged in a light. I"m telling you, this kid ain't dumb :)

But he decided it seems that the front tree house was just a little bit too far from the house. He is literally about 4 steps away from the front door- I guess that gives him more comfort. He did ask daddy to make sure the sprinklers were turned off. And wanted to leave the garage door open. We said no, that has to stay closed so no one steals our bikes. I guess he didn't think twice about if someone wanted to steal him.

But he is determined. He is driven. He is not going to be told he cannot sleep outside. Sure, I don't want him sleeping outside by himself.

We get so little sleep anyway that this kind of circus act at bedtime already sets us behind schedule. Do I think he'll really stay out there? No way. Brian is hanging out on the front living room couch, reading his book as he usually does at bedtime. And waiting. Waiting for the moment Ty decides he's had enough outside camping time, gotten cold, whatever will eventually drive him back in the house- because something will.

We'll just have to ride this one out. Hopefully it doesn't go on too long. We're all tired- as he got us all up very early today- and not in a good way.

But we also know when to pick the battle- and ultimately we know he'll come in- if we just wait it out a bit.

When you are a parent to a child like Ty, one who is prone to rages, meltdowns, has such a high need to control EVERYTHING, you have to really pick and choose where we can and should exert our parental control; and where we can relax and let him think he's controlling the situation, because in the end we know what will happen.

After all, we're pretty smart parents :) Or at least we are good at making it up as we go along! Isn't that what parenting is about? Bets are he comes in by 9:30pm.....