Another crazy day

Darin only hit the afternoon with his last blog, but after this afternoon, I have completely forgotten all the other things Daniel did yesterday morning. There was a long list of misbehavior before Darin even stepped into the door. All I do remember is Rylie never was able to nap due to Daniel waking her up within seconds after going down each time.

So today-- Daniel was much better this morning. Everything seemed to be going fine until nap time (yes, this has become a consistent thing around here lately.) Finally around 2:30 Rylie woke up from her nap so I told Daniel that it was time for him to stay in his room for a while longer for quiet time. He didn't seem too upset-- so I went downstairs to feed Rylie. My friend called and within a few minutes Daniel came downstairs with his hands full of evidence from his diaper. I wish I could say this is a first time this has happened, but as Darin stated, "Lately he has been obsessed with dirty diapers, we don't know why and we don't know how to help him past his infatuation quicker." I ran him upstairs to find the remains of his diaper spread across his floor ground in as though he had tried cleaning it himself. This was the icing on the cake and I almost completely lost it. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get him to stop this? We have been duct taping his diaper during nap times, but we still seem to have episodes.

Another problem we have been having lately is that Daniel refuses to go to bed-- naps, at night, etc... I have been extremely tired all week because he won't fall asleep until about 11 PM every night. I have tried a picture schedule, sticker chart, we have sat in the hall to reassure him we were there but to also establish that he needs to sleep, etc... After talking to my friend Libby today she helped me see that it was finally time to win this power struggle. So tonight, Daniel got 3 chances to stay in his room and then the gate went up. Daniel hates when we put up the gate and often will become completely hysterical. Oh well, it took 45 mins. of him screaming and he finally fell asleep. The first time in 2 weeks that he was asleep by 8:15. What a relief. I sure hope he learns quickly though-- I hate hearing him scream.