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    Sleep retraining… not fun

    April 19th, 2010

    Somewhere in the past few weeks while I’ve been licking my wounds in bed feeling icky, G in the room over decided to switch up his bed-time routine.

    S loves to snuggle with G. Who can blame him? G is so great to hold. However, my easy-to-put-down child, has become a holy terror. What used to be a 15 minute bed-time at best, is now taking an hour an a half. Our routine was simple: teeth-brushing, diaper, jammies, medicine, book, song, crib WHILE AWAKE, and I walk out of the room. G stares up at the ceiling, talks to his lovey and crashes out.

    NOW on the other hand? Teeth-brushing, diaper, jammies, medicine, book, book, sometimes ANOTHER book, song, rock and hold until he’s asleep to put down. And God have mercy on your soul if you try to put him down before he’s been asleep for at least 15 minutes, because then he wakes up and the screaming begins and you gotta start with the rocking and the holding all over again. Tiring? Yes! Irritating? Beyond belief.

    Last week S and I had a heart-to-heart. I couldn’t do this new routine with G. I have patience, but not an hour and a half’s worth of bed-time patience. S has been great, and has done it, but it can’t go on. We decided to wait, since G was teething, and we wanted to make sure that he wasn’t so clingy because he wasn’t feeling great.

    But the battle of wills began yesterday at nap-time. I put him down in his crib, layed down next to his crib on the floor and told him “Mommy is napping, and you nap too”. He proceeded to jump up and rock out the crib for about 30 minutes. Hi Go-Go-Gadget arms reached his (thankfully empty) humidifier and crashed it to the floor. I took all this in stride, ignored it all and pretended I kept on sleeping. After awhile of figuring out the party in his crib wasn’t going anywhere, he planted face first and crashed out. Ensue 2 hour nap.

    Tonight, more or less same deal. G got dressed, I put him in his crib, I pulled a chair over and began reading. He quickly caught on that he wasn’t getting the treatment he had gotten used to and immediately began protesting. He was pointing to our glider, cried, and kept saying “Up!”. Meanwhile, I kept reading. When our 3 books were up, I rubbed his back and sang. Meanwhile G continued crying. It was rough, but I wasn’t going anywhere and neither was he. He quieted down after awhile, while I again told him I loved him, while rubbing his back, but I wasn’t going to pick him up. So he plopped down, snuggled with Moonka and stared up at the ceiling. I stayed by his crib, singing, and he fell asleep. Then I walked out.

    Tomorrow we do the same thing with hopefully less of the crying. While not fun, tonight at least didn’t take an hour and a half.

    Wish me well! I want my old routine back!


    Bed sharing? Yep, not for us!

    February 19th, 2010

    G had a really rough night last night. Don’t ask me why: there didn’t seem to be a diagnosable reason. By 3am, S and I had each spent an hour with him in his room. He was quiet, dozing, happy to have us there, but the moment we would transfer him back to his crib, would start crying. Finally, after the God-only-knows what attempt to lay him in his crib, we decided to bring him into bed with us.

    SIDS, suffocation, and rolling-over fears aside, sleeping with our child in our bed has proven to be the worst sleep night yet. G would still wake up every hour, cry because he didn’t like our bed, and proceed to climb over us. I’m convinced he was trying to climb me like Mount Everest at one point. I think I also spent an hour with a kid draped over my face… sideways. Let me tell you: a bony, little elbow shoved in to my trachea is no way to sleep. Those suffocation risks the AMA lists? It should include suffocating the parent, not just the child.

    S and I decided that this was our one and only bed-sharing experiment. Nights like last night will result in us sleeping in his bedroom for the rest of the evening, so we’re investing in a comfy pillow for our glider.

    Me? Tired! G on the other hand ran around this morning as if nothing had happened.

    P.S. The recent lack of photos is not intentional: I’m in between fancy cameras for the time being. I’ve ordered a Canon 5D Mark II (swoon), and have sold my Canon 50D (much faster than I anticipated). At this moment I am DSLR-less. I feel naked. Here’s a recent photo, however, of G’s facial expression when he wants up on my chair.


    Cutest way to sleep

    July 20th, 2009

    How is this not one of the cutest things you’ve ever seen?

    Soooooo hard to resist pinching his little rump!


    Dear G (re: naps)

    July 12th, 2009


    Dear G,

    Finding you sitting-up in your crib playing with the videocam is not what I had in mind when I put you down for a nap this afternoon. Naptime is for lying down flat as a board, closing your eyes and taking a snooze. Sitting up and rattling the crib isn’t fitting to that definition.

    Please also tell me how you manage to immediately awaken even though I put you down half asleep… twice!

    Sincerely,

    Your “tired-of-battling-you-at-naptime” mom


    This is not the sight of a child napping!

    May 23rd, 2009

    Look at this!

    Does this look to you like the sight of a child that is taking a nap? Yeah — I didn’t think so.

    This is G, just minutes ago (and still going) up in his crip trying to go down for his mid-day nap. And he’s having none of it. He’s been clapping his feet, swinging his monkey and generally having a grand ole’ time up in there. Everything but napping of course.

    My favorite part of the image? The pacifier stuck up in his diaper while he was rolling over. Classic!