A Phase?

A few weeks ago I wrote about waking up at two in the morning to find my three year old daughter standing creepily at the foot of our bed, well it happened again last night, and it totally freaked me out yet again. Maybe not as bad as the first time but still, slight heart attack. This new wandering episode has coincided with what I'm hoping is a new little "phase" that she is going through. The don't listen to Daddy and say really mean things to Daddy and take three hours to put me to bed at night phase. Okay I'm actually praying it's just a phase because as Popeye would say "I've stands all I can stands and I can't stands no more!" The not listening I'm kind of used to because although she has always been a good girl, she never listened all the time, and the mean things she says sting a little bit, but she is three and just testing the boundaries of her little world. But our nice bedtime routine which has gone from half an hour or forty five minutes to two or two and a half hours is just not going to fly. The routine has actually stayed the same but the past few nights we have just ended up having to repeat it three or four times. My little angel who would never even get out of her bed by herself is now traipsing right out of there before we can even get the door closed. And as every parent knows those precious few hours we get between when the kiddies go to sleep and we go to sleep are pure gold, and absolutely necessary to retain any kind of sanity. So if this isn't a phase we might just have to get her some kind of cage, alright that's a tad extreme but with me staying home and my wife working full time we really need those few hours of alone time each night, a few minutes are just not going to cut it. I guess we shall just have to wait and see what happens...but she was a little sniffly today...maybe a little dose of benadryl?!