When Night Night Time Becomes No No Time

After a long day at work I go home to be mom. I love being mom! It's more fun than I could have ever managed. After a long day at work, I pick up Gianna and the Baby Einstein version of "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" begins on repeat in the car all the way home. After rolling into the drive way at 6pm it's time to make dinner, give Gianna a bath, wrestle her into her pajamas, drive her around the house in her favorite little red car while chasing the dogs, read her "Goodnight Moon" 5 times, snuggle and the it's off to bed.
So, it's 9pm and now it's time to relax, open a bottle of wine and catch up with my husband Daniel before he goes to bed at 10 pm because he's up and gone for work by 6am. Writing it out that way it sounds pretty crazy but really it's our normal and we have it down to a science at this point. But what happens when bedtime goes wrong as is what happened last night?
Gianna has entered a stage of independence that I LOVE! The girl knows what she wants and is learning to communicate what she wants more and more everyday. But this carries over into all aspects of her life including bedtime. This part I don't like so much. Although I understand that it's normal and I am sure we will have many more rough bedtimes in the future and blah blah blah, it really makes for a rough night for mom and dad.
Last night Gianna was exhausted! She was at the point where she appeared to be sleep walking she was so exhausted. Normally at this point I can lay her in her bed turn on her sound machine and it's relaxation here I come! But not last night...no last night was a lot of crying and screaming, "no, no, no ni ni!"
Daniel and I took shifts going back in and trying to calm her down but she was beyond reason. It got to the point where I was so exhausted I tried to straight talk with her. "Gianna, mommy is exhausted, you are exhausted let's just call it a night and go to bed. What do ya say?" (note: while this is being said Gianna's forehead is crinkled and she's looking at me like I'm crazy...which I am so tired I am beggining to think I am too.) When my little pep talk was over laughter errupted from my little one which made me laugh too but of course I don't want her to see so I quickly set her in crib and left the room.
Okay so, I'm outside her door collecting myself thinking, "okay, I'm screwed if she's laughing at me at 14 months what's 14 going to look like." And then to my surprise, silence. Woo hoo! It worked! I know my little talk didn't really make the difference but at least the state of absolute exhaustion sunk in and now it's time for ME time! I quickly go down the hall so I can rejoice in my victory with Daniel but...he's asleep. Sigh. Well, on the bright side, at least I got control of the remote for the rest of the night.
Until next time,

Busy B