Supermom's Five Bedtime Rules

For whatever reason, last night was a bit nutty, from the moment we put the kid down until I opened my eyes (very early) this morning. Being the pseudo-control freak that I am (are you really surprised?), I’m laying down the law, and giving my family a few rules to live by once the sun goes down. (Sadly, most are directed at ME)

1. when you are put to bed, you should stay in bed. directed at kid.
Kid was particularly wound last night, and tried to hide from us and bedtime. Eventually, he gave in, and we went through our relatively easy routine of “chewy” (allergy medicine), book, then tucking him and his “friends” (aka 20 stuffed animals and toys) in. WHEW. In fact, it was a bit too easy... he waited only two minutes before he clamored out of his room, shutting the door behind him. He was dragging his Woody doll behind him, and with his best blank stare, just STOPPED in the middle of the hallway, not willing to talk or move. It was a little unnerving, actually. We coaxed him back to bed after a few minutes, and thankfully, he stayed.

2. leave the toilet seat down, and the toilet lid UP. directed at husband.
I have a tendency to stumble to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Eyes closed and half-asleep, I don’t dare turn on the lights. I know my path... Don’t throw off my groove with the lid or seat out of place. If momma falls in, the whole neighborhood is gonna hear about it...

3. don’t walk downstairs half-asleep in the dark. directed at me.   
I usually park it upstairs after kid goes to bed. For whatever reason, last night, I was making the trek between floors. I was pretty exhausted, and apparently didn’t pay attention to the same sixteen steps I climb EVERY DAY. On the last four, I tripped, slid down, and rammed my leg into the metal baby gate at the bottom. I totally forgot about it until I stepped into the shower this morning and saw the bruise... then the pain set in.

4. pick up your toys, shoes, books... EVERYTHING in the walking path. directed at EVERYONE.
After I recovered from my fall, I then tripped over a few errant toys, a pair of shoes, and a pile of clothes... All on my way to the light switch. It looks like we just threw up our hands in defeat, and abandoned the first floor when kid went down. I’m sure we thought we’d deal with it in the morning, but little did I know I’d be dealing with the crap end that night. (Husband’s proposed solve: just kick it all out of the way, and deal with it the next day. I think I may take him up on that)

5. don’t check facebook at 3am. directed at me.
I will NOT go back to sleep if my brain is otherwise stimulated, so I should have known better. But I wanted to see what time it was, so I checked my phone (because actual clocks don’t exist anymore). Lo and behold, I had several Facebook notifications... I was sucked in for only a few moments, but couldn’t fall back asleep until 5:45. I wake up at 6:30. Awesome.

I’m dragging, sore and am in a mood this morning, but can you blame me? 

If you had to propose a rule or two for your family, what would it be?