"Do I need to ground you from Hot Wheels?"

Warning...this is a long post. If you want to look at the pictures and know the short story, Jake loves his bike. If you want the longer, slightly boring version continue on. But don't say I didn't warn you.

We have speculated that Jake might be OCD. Maybe he is just particular, or maybe he will be an Engineer one day. Regardless he has had some funny obsessions. The latest and longest was monster trucks. He started collecting them while potty training, and his pile grew larger as birthday and Christmas came. There were many issues about where to display the monster trucks (very long story, ask me if you want details). They finally ended up forming a well planned and very orderly line against a wall in his room. When the long night of sleeping across the room in his big boy bed was too much to bear, he began setting up camp next to the monster trucks so he could view them any time of night should he wake up.

All this was a little quirky, but what do you do? Then he went through a phase where he would creep into our bed at all hours of the night. I am a heavy sleeper, so often I would wake up hours later wondering why my face was wet. I found that it was the condensation of his breath. He likes to sleep with his face pressed up against mine.

We began the grueling process of bribing, threatening, begging, pleading with him to sleep in his own bed all night. You name it, we tried it. I even threatened the precious monster trucks. He lost a few before I realized the monster truck phase was on the way out.

What did we finally end up doing you ask...

Jake got this bike as a hand me down from his cousin Baylor. We found a pair of training wheels and the next thing we know, Jake has a new obsession. He begged to ride it all the time, from the minute he woke up until I was putting him in bed he wanted to ride his "Hot Wheels" bike (named after a beloved monster truck, "Hot Wheels Mom, not Hot Wheels Crasher" he reminds me. The Crasher line of trucks is just another way to get people like us to buy the same trucks with a slightly different trait.)

Anyway, one day I couldn't get him to come in for his nap. I finally started threatening to take away the bike (insert the ta, da sound effect) he ran in so fast I couldn't even finish the threat. Now, when I turn out the light and say "good night, and don't come out", he finishes the sentence with "or you'll take away my Hot Wheels bike?" After I stand there and weigh the consequences of long term emotional damage by making that kind of a threat, I say "yeah, just don't come out". Guess what, it works like a charm. We have had a little boy creeping into our room in the middle of the night, but he doesn't usually climb in. He just stands there staring at me like something from a horror movie. When I wake up and regain a normal heart rhythm, all I have to say is "Hot Wheels" and he scurries back to his bed.

If you think I am full of empty threats, you are wrong. Last weekend Jake took the bike to the far and out of bounds places of the neighborhood. When I finally found him, I told him the bike was grounded. He begged, through terrible screams "no Momma, I'll be a good boy, I'll sleep in my bed all night, I told them not to go so far, it's not my fault etc." I was so angry that I was numb to his pleas. The next day, however, I had to follow through with the punishment. The bike was set on top of a cabinet in the garage. I endured a full day of screaming and crying, begging and pleading. It was a long day, and not one that either of us will forget soon. But the punishment still works. In the quiet time before bed, he reminds me that he won't "go past the gray line or you will take my Hot Wheels bike away". If the shoe fits, wear it.

Because he has enjoyed his bike so much, I got mine out of an early retirement and we went for a ride around the block. It was the highlight of his evening and he can't stop talking about it. Tonight as I put him to bed he said "if you sleep in your bed all night you get to ride your FJ Cruiser bike (he named it for me...don't ask me how he came up with that one), and if Daddy sleeps in his bed all night he gets to ride his 4-wheeler truck motorcycle". I think I can manage staying in my bed all night if the kids can stay in theirs.