How to Get Collin to Take His Shirt Off

My child refuses to sleep without a shirt. This sounds like a simple statement. It isn't. The twenty seconds between the bathroom and the bedroom are starting to pose anxiety for him. He's beginning to freak about being shirtless in any scenario. Weird. If Bryon happens to check on him in the middle of the night, may the heavens open up and suck up into the clouds should he forget to put a t-shirt on first because Collin will panic upon seeing that Daddy too has nipples.

Well, the fever of a zillion degrees combined with the heat wave we're having prompted a necessity in my mind for the kid to not only sleep shirtless last night but, gasp pantsless as well, and brace yourselves folks, without the comforter! Ack! You'd have thought I was torturing my child from the wails he let out. It was awful. Bryon made me turn around for a minute because I got a little weepy at the sight of my child in so much sheer emotional agony.

So, I broke down. I offered him a bribe. I told him that he could have a cupcake for breakfast if he slept, like a good boy, without his shirt on all night. He toned it down to a whimper after that. A pitiful, sad little whimper. But, he woke up saying, "cupcake! cupcake!"

And yes, I had to take all the shirts out of his room because he's just that clever. Also, ever the smart-ass, he says to me, as I'm taking this picture of him this morning, "Mama, not too many pictures today." Schwack! Then, as a fly zoomed by his ear, "Frickin' Fly!" Oops, where'd he get that?