Taking the power back

If someone were to ask me what the best decision I ever made as a parent was, I would say "putting a backwards lock on Amelie's door". I know that doesn't sound very deep and loving, but after months of chaotic nights of irrational behavior and resistance, that little lock has made us all happy and relaxed. I have been wanting to turn Amelie's door lock backwards for a while now because it is so hard to get her to go to bed. We have been nice, we have been mean, we have tried it all!!! And she still gets up a lot. It can take up to two hours for her to stay in bed and go to sleep. Some people were telling me what an awful idea it was so I went against my own judgement and didn't do it. Well, last week I got so fed up that we finally put a lock on her door and it was the best thing I have ever done. The first night she was pissed. Is anyone surprised by this? What's new right? I'm immune to her being upset. I watched her through the monitor and at one point she literally had all fours off the ground. Her hands were gripping the handle and her feet were on the door. Seriously dude??? I felt my nose scrunch, my eyebrows pointed down, and my mouth hung open. And then I started shaking my head. I was disgusted, irritated, and just a slight bit sad for her. But since the first two emotions were stronger I shoved the feeling of sadness back into that part of the brain that never gets used. I am happy to say that the fit lasted a very short amount of time and after two days we don't even have to lock the door anymore. I will keep the lock there just in case she tries to get all Jurassic park on me (you know how the dinosaurs would come and test the fence just to see if there was a chance that the electricity was turned off) and test it again. I am very pleased with this situation and I feel like I took the power back once again one step at a time. The whole house is much more peaceful and Amelie has had to learn to control herself. A very good lesson indeed :)