Gear, take two

It's probably quite obvious that I don't have much time to write here. Or, really, not much of use to write about! The novelty of being a first-time mom has worn off, so I feel that much of what we are up to is familiar. I tried to keep the new baby purchases to a minimum - even easier since we can re-use all the "girl" things, but there are a few new things I'm loving that I thought I would share.

I ordered this Baby Cargo Georgi Stroller Bag not long after we got home from the hospital. (Could the name be more perfect?) I got mine at Diapers.com, but seems that it is cheapest at Target right now. It is a good size and has plenty of pockets. Doesn't hold a ton of stuff (not as much as the backpack I used with Ellen), but works as a messenger-style purse and I think will be great on the MacLaren when we get to using it. I even saw that the gals at Ain't No Mom Jeans use it from time to time, so then I felt reasonably stylish. :)

This Conair Sound Therapy and Relaxation Clock Radio kills two birds with one stone - noise machine and clock for nursing. In Ellen's room we had a digital clock plus used our iPod and docking station for ocean noise (ridiculously expensive noise machine). This isn't the greatest clock ever, but is fine for the price.

The Nose Frida snot sucker is flat out amazing. Get it, along with extra filters.

I already told you that I like the Rumina Full Coverage pumping / nursing tank, but I continue to really like it. It has more support than my previous favorite tanks, the Gilligan O'Malley Target ones. I still like the Target ones for sleeping and hanging around the house - more comfy, and cheaper!

We added a few of these Halo Sleepsack Swaddles in cotton to our pile of swaddling items. Last time we used the Kiddopotamus SwaddleMe with good success, but I think this go-round their velcro was kind of worn out and Georgia could bust out of them pretty easily. I found that the cotton ones worked best - most stretchy and tight, but had to be washed frequently to keep their tightness. This sleepsack swaddle was kind of easy for Georgia to get out of in full swaddle mode, but the ability to swaddle one arm or no arms seemed to work great for us. We used it to wean from the swaddling with no issues. The newborn size is pretty short and she grew out of it rather quickly and isn't all that long of a baby, so now we use the small size.

This Fisher Price Cradle n' Swing was borrowed from a friend both times - different friends, same swing. It was a lifesaver both times. I guess you'll never know if your baby will like it, but it would have been a worthwhile investment. Hooray for generous friends! This version also plugs in, which is nice.

 And a few other things ...
- Some kind of bouncy chair, just very basic. We were gifted a MacLaren version that isn't made anymore, but it is similar to the Baby Bjorn Babysitter, just much less expensive. I just wanted a seat that would prop Georgia up while we were eating or whatever, and it has worked great for that purpose.We never had one with Ellen for some reason.
- Georgia practically lives in these Tea Collection Footies. They are a great weight for cold weather babies and wash and wear so well. I got several on major sale -they have great sales if you subscribe to their emails.
- I've commented on this before, but we opted to purchase a nebulizer machine through our pediatrician after Ellen needed it for the second time with a wheezing respiratory illness as a toddler. It has turned out to be so useful - we have albuterol on hand and can use it for both girls. We've unfortunately needed it a lot, but it saves us an urgent trip to the doctor on a weekend or whatever. So, if you need it once, buy one!
- Not to toot my own horn, but this blog has been so useful for me. I'm not saying it will be so useful for you, but the ability to look back at what I did with the first child has been great. I invariably find myself saying, "Ellen never did this!" (yes she did), or "how did we ever make this work?". It's so nice to see what we did. Not that Georgia is the same child, of course, but it's a good record. If you have your first child, I encourage you to take notes about those mundane things - it might come in handy!

And, some good old favorites that are worth their weight in gold: Medela Freestyle Pump (did you know that breastpumps are now covered under the Affordable Care Act?), Boppy, Gerber Nuk pacifiers, and Exersaucer (equivalent of this Triple Fun version - love the removable toy bar for younger babies).

Anything I'm missing?

By the by, I think there are more than 3 people who read this (my sister, mother and mother-in-law), so if you do, say hello!

Status report

One week into Project Big Girl Bed and all is well. Ellen has slept there every night (naps / "quiet time" typically dicey) and once in bed, hasn't really gotten out. Her mornings have actually been great - sleeping until "the cow is dancing" almost every morning, and even late some days! Well, if you count late as 6:37-6:42am, which we do.

The falling asleep has been more of an issue than I anticipated. She says she "can't fall asleep very well!" and has required lots of visits to her room for reassurance and prompts to count sheep or lay quietly or some such thing that sounds non-sensical when recommended to a 3-year-old. We are trying to avoid a lot of hair scratching / back rubbing / general coddling as it is so much easier to do now that she is so close and not behind bars! :)

Our major point of enforcement has been for her to stay in her bed from the time we put her there until we come in her room in the morning to get her out. So far, so good. One morning I did wake to her little feet running down the hall, but otherwise she has been generally compliant. 

Also, I'm realizing that we are just about one year out from The Potty Party! It seemed pretty easy at the time and in retrospect, totally was. We've had so few accidents or issues since that time - hard to believe I was ever resistant to the idea. She is still in diapers at bedtime, though has been out of diapers at nap for probably 6 months. She wakes up dry several mornings a week, but not enough to contemplate undies at bedtime. I'm not pushing it and would certainly rather have diapers than wet sheets to deal with in the mornings.

How to move a toddler to a Big Kid Bed

Ok, you should totally take my advice.

It goes like this:

- Spend quite a bit of time pondering the decor of your child's Big Kid Room.
- Decide on what bed fits best aesthetically, then Google till your eyes bleed and you find a great price on said bed.
- Wait for a Groupon to get a good deal on a mattress.
- Move.
- Set up the bed in the Big Kid Room say, oh, at least 6 months before you need it.
- Be entirely wishy washy about the whole process. (Everyone says to keep your child in their crib as long as possible, but turns out, you won't know anyone who kept their kid in the crib as long as you did).
- Avoid your child when he/she asks when she gets to sleep in the Big Bed.
- Stall, stall, stall.
- Randomly, over about a 3 month time frame, try to enforce "quiet time" in the Big Kid Bed. If you are lucky, your child might fall asleep once. Or twice.
- One night, when your child is so sleepy they almost fall asleep mid-sentence, decide on a whim that it's a good night to try the Big Kid Bed. At your child's (groggy) insistence, of course.
- Cross your fingers, lament the lack of a night light and bed rails, and fall into bed yourself.

If you are EXTRA lucky, your husband will wake you up at 5:15am (not intentionally, of course), and then you won't fall asleep again until about 6:51am. You got to stay in bed until 6:51am because your child slept in late until 7:00am for the first time in, oh, 114 days. But, then you get up and praise your toddler after what feels like 9 total minutes of sleep.

Rinse and Repeat.

Acting on a whim is not in my nature, but I do have a tendency to over-think things (ahem) and sometimes you gotta just go with it. Ells woke up, so proud of herself, and asked if she could do it again every night. I told her I would think about it. :)

Reporting live from Sadnonapville

Yep, I think the naps are done for. Barring any illness (which I'm seriously not wishing for, but at the same time kind of am), I don't think there will be much more afternoon napping in our house for the toddler set. For the mom? Well, that's a different story, but I think it is generally frowned upon to leave your 3-year-old with free reign over the house and a comatose parent 'supervising'.

I've alluded (ad nauseum) to our nap battles and I just finally had to accept that it (mostly) wasn't worth the fight. I can't even remember the last time that Ellen took a nap at home, which is saying something.

I had been taking her up to her crib (she still sleeps there at night, which will need addressing later) and she acted sleepy and yes, was truly tired, but she would just get a 2nd wind about 7 seconds after I left the room and she would bounce and talk and sing for at least 45 minutes and then would be so wound up she wouldn't sleep for anything.

So, I had to choose: was the sleep more important or was it more important for me to have quiet time away from my child? I can't force sleep, but I can enforce quiet time, so that won.

I am working hard on trying to enforce "quiet time". She has to stay in her bed and read quietly until I tell her it is Ok to come out. I am aiming for an hour, but she reliably lasts about 40 minutes at this point before the whining really starts. Openly looking for suggestions on how to make this work better - please fill me in! Also, I really truly hope that she will one day realize it is OK to fall asleep during quiet time if needed, but she is so stubborn (I blame her father) that I am not holding my breath.

She is still kind of a crabby-puss in the late afternoons, but it isn't as awful as it used to be when she skipped nap and bedtime is much more reliable. She goes down between 730-800pm and sleep comes not long after. This is really how I knew that we were probably truly done with the nap - she can make it through the day (pretty well) and bedtime is much better. I would really like to get her to stretch her morning wake-up time from 630am (on a good day) to closer to 700am, because I still think she is deficient in sleep, but I'm hoping that will come with time.

Oh, and another complicating factor is that she still naps at school 4 days a week. They have to nap, and I know she wakes up earlier than most kids most days, and it does kind of muck up our bedtime routine on those nights. They still have nap NEXT YEAR at school, too, which I can't even imagine how that will work.

So. It is what it is. I'm trying to see the silver lining in the fact that we can get out of the house in the afternoons. Also, everyone kept telling me to keep her in her crib as long as possible (which I'm all for) except I'm willing to bet those people's kids were still napping when they transitioned to a big bed. This one will be .... interesting.

Stick a fork in me

I'm done.

Day 4 of no-nap over here. Not for me, of course, but for the 3-foot-tall terrorist that lives in our house. Nap for me? Ha!

Why did I need her to nap so badly today? Well, there are the 3 days of sleep deprivation, of course. Also, though, the plumber is here to auger our basement main drain because our basement has standing water and floating sewage.

See?

Kill me now.

Poll: Big-kid bed

Ok ... input, please!

What age did you move your kid to their big kid bed?

How many times did they fall out?

Bed rails or no?

And, for reals, did they stop sleeping forever after you moved them???

Desperation, thy name is tired Mommy

I think I've alluded to the fact that our daughter has become a grade-A terrible sleeper. If I'm being objective, which is really hard, I think it was a cumulative effect of moving + busy parents + lapsing into bad habits + being 2 1/2 years old.

Nonetheless, we have slowly found ourselves in a situation where she naps maybe once or twice a week on the days she is home, stalls stalls stalls and goes to bed late, and continues to get up early. I used to be shocked when she DIDN'T nap, and now it was the exact opposite. I thought she was really going to give up her nap and I was preparing myself for a future of "quiet time".

I talked with our Parents as Teachers educator and she confirmed my feelings that Ellen really wasn't getting enough sleep. I think kids her age need like 11-13 hours of sleep total per day, and a few days a week she was getting maybe 9. Kids get sleep deprived very fast - within probably 2 days - and we were seeing the results of that. Boy howdy.

We have been pretty lucky with the tantrum situation - lots of sass and back talk and pouting - but generally we can redirect without much issue. Last week, the terrible sleep situation resulted in a crazy child at bedtime that appeared almost possessed - shaking with anger, hitting, throwing things - it was awful. And sad. I think she felt out of control and we felt out of control without knowing how to fix it.

So, back to the books for Mama. I pulled out our Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child book looking for ANY solution. I really wasn't even focused on naps, but needed to get her bedtime situation fixed. Thank you, page 325, and your Sleep Rules!

You can read the basics on Sleep Rules and Silent Return here.

This is actually very similar to the plan we used for potty training, though there is a consequence for not following the rules. Ellen responded SO well to the potty training rewards that I had high hopes (to say the least).

Prep: I made a trip to Michaels for poster board and reward trinkets / stickers. I didn't want to reward with food and totally lucked out by hitting the super clearance section of summer goodies and school goodies. I got enough rewards to fill a big box for less than $20 (art projects, chalk, bubbles, stickers, school supplies, notebooks ...). I also got some Disney princess stickers which have been a HUGE hit. We don't do much princess talk at our house, but I think they do at school and Ellen has been chatting about her princess friends. (In fact, she yelled about wanting Ariel for a long time during the tantrum from hell).

I happily talked up a group art project when Ellen saw me come home with bags of goodies. She helped me draw the 'Ellen's Sleep Rules' poster and decorated it herself. We talked through the rules and the prizes and consequences. (Follow the rules = sticker on poster, prize from box. Don't follow the rules = no sticker, no prize, no TV/iPad.)

Night #1: Bed prep as usual (books, jammies, brush teeth, into bed). I was tempted to add all these steps to the poster, but refrained. We picked a place for the poster in her room so she can see it and we talked about which princess sticker she would like to put on the poster in the morning. She repeated the rules for us and was in bed at 7:30pm, quiet by 7:35pm. This was a no-nap day, but still was the earliest she has been in bed and been quiet in FOREVER. She didn't wake at all during the night, and woke up at 6:38am, after the cow was dancing. Hallelujah!!

Nap #1: I was hopeful, yet doubtful, about how this would work for naps. We followed the exact same steps - in bed for nap about 1:45pm, up to go potty, lots of chatting in her bed, then eventually quiet at 2:45pm. I did have to go up a few times and to help her to potty, but never talked to her. I woke her at 4:30pm because I didn't want her to sleep too late, poured on the praise, and rewarded her.

She was generally a delightful child all afternoon, which is frankly a change from our recent experiences. So nice!

Night #2: I knew she wouldn't be tired for our ideal bedtime of 7:30-8:00, but she was in bed by a little after 8:00 and probably quiet by 8:35pm. Again, a huge improvement.

As an aside, this is part of the problem. When she naps, she tends to fall asleep around 2ish and would sleep until 430 or so. This clearly is too late to then be tired enough for bedtime. The solution is either to have her nap earlier, which is really a challenge, or to skip nap and do an earlier bedtime. I honestly think we are heading in that direction sooner rather than later - quiet time instead of nap, but it might make for a much more pleasant evening.

Nap #2: So-so. She did nap, but it probably took her an hour of talking before she fell asleep. I can't remember if she woke on her own or if we woke her, but she did sleep and was rewarded.

Night #3: She went to be really late, about 9:00pm, because we had dinner with friends, but she went right down and slept all night. She did wake up about 6:15am hollering, so I went in and told her she needed to be quiet until her cow was dancing. She didn't go back to sleep, but did get quiet until about 6:32am and then I went to get her and she got her rewards.

Nap #3: Best nap yet! She was probably kind of tired from a shorter night of sleep than usual, so she was in bed at about 1:30pm and asleep by 1:50pm. She slept almost 2 hours and was a pretty happy camper the rest of the day!

Night #4: Didn't go down as well as the previous nights. Along with the rest of the changes, I took all the crap out of her bed crib (probably 17 things) and make her choose only 2 items (dolls / loveys) and she gets a blanket for covers. We had to exchange some of the items back and forth, then she had to potty, but she was asleep within about 30 minutes of getting in bed.

All in all, I'm totally happy with how this has worked. I made a lot of changes all at once, which my behavioral analyst friend would not agree with, but I NEEDED things to get better. Whadda you know? They did. :)

In the book, Mark Weissbluth talks a bit about the difference between rewards and bribes, as well as the role of consequences. You can read it for yourself, but basically he says it is fine and it works. Also, that your love and kisses are not enough to change the behavior of a strong-willed toddler, so you may need back-up.

His idea is basically that your child will eventually become so proud of themselves that the rewards will kind of phase themselves out. This is exactly what happened with potty training for us, so I'm hopeful this will be the same. I have made a point to talk about how proud of Ellen I am to her, as well as our family and friends, and she gets a big smile on her face.

Awwww, still love that girl. :)

Dare I say it?

Just as an update, I think I may actually be onto something with the cow clock and timer system we have going on at bedtime.

I first mentioned our KID'Sleep Alarm Clock back in September. I feel like it has been successful over the last 6 months, but the concept of staying quietly in bed until the "cow is dancing" is really sinking in. I would say that most mornings of the week, Ells wakes up before 6:30am (dance time!), but she stays relatively quiet until she sees the cow dancing. Then she promptly yells out, "Mom! Dad! Come get me! Cow dancing! I go downstairs!" and we're off for the day. I have been sneaking in before I go to bed to put a stack of books in her crib to keep her occupied, but she only gets her loveys and stuffed animals at bedtime.

I was a bit concerned about daylight savings, and this was really the big test. She got in bed about 8:00pm, so 9:00pm new time. I was afraid she would wake up, see her cow at 6:30am, and be awake for the day, when it was really 5:30am old time. I moved the alarm to 7:30am, and she didn't yell out until 7:34am. So, while this was still her "usual" wake time, I felt like it proved she was paying attention to the dancing cow and we didn't have any hitch with daylight savings. I'll take it!

As for the timer, I'm still pleased with our progress. The 20 minute window seems to be working and, while she might protest when the bell goes off, there is no longer a protracted tantrum and she (pretty readily) turns out the lights. We rock and sing in the chair for a bit, then into bed. I've noticed she is trying to draw out the scratch my back / covers / lovey routine once she gets in bed, but she is easier to quiet once her room is dark.

Prior to the timer, we had gotten into a bad habit of going back up to her room several times a night when she called out for any number of "necessary" things before she fell asleep. As a bonus, most of that has gone away since starting the timer. I'm not really sure the two events are related, but again, I'll take it!

Tick, tick, tick, tick ...

I hope this doesn't make me sound like a drill Sargent, but I have added a kitchen timer to our bedtime routine. It just started last week - and we are still working on the process - but I think I am seeing positive improvements. (Wishful thinking? Maybe).

Here is my rationale:
1. Ellen doesn't understand the concept of time. If I say, "You're wasting time messing around when you could be reading books!" she doesn't care/know any better.

2. I would rather the timer be the bad guy than me. (Carrie - does this even make behavioral sense? I really don't know).

My plan was to set the timer as soon as we got upstairs to get ready for bed. I set it for 20 minutes, which should be plenty of time to change a diaper, put on PJs, brush teeth and read books. When the bell goes off, we stop what we are doing, turn out the lights and get in bed.

We shopped for the timer together - Ellen picked it out - and then we decorated it at home with stickers that she picked out. We had a lot of conversation about how we were going to use the timer at bedtime and practiced listening to it.

The 1st night? As you can imagine, NOT a pretty scene. Ells messed around, despite lots of reminders about the timer, and threw a big fat fit when the bell went off. I expected it, though she actually did settle pretty quickly.

The 2nd night was quite a bit better, per Dad's report. We had a previous rule of 2 books before bed, but now we can read as many as we can fit in before the bell. She only likes to read to herself now, so she read about 7 books and was quite pleased with herself. :)

The 3rd night was again not great, which I'll chalk up to a stomach bug. (I promise I'm not a terrible parent - despite 2 episodes of vomit, she had been very cheerful all evening).

She got night #4 off because grandmother was over!

By Sunday night, the bell went off, we finished our "Curious George Goes to the Library" story, and she was off to bed with minimal resistance.

I really do enjoy our bedtime routine, but I enjoy the reading and laughs and cuddles, and not the endless protests. I think this is helping ... we'll see if it stands the test of time.

(Time - get it? Ha. Such a comic!)

They call her Houdini

Well, it happened.

We had the first experience of diaper-taken-off-in-the-crib. Three times. Last night.

I knew it was coming ... Ells just learned to take her pants off, which she finds endlessly entertaining. She took her diaper off in the living room one night last week while we were cooking dinner. I tried to respond appropriately without inciting her to do it again ... and it seemed to work ... well .... until last night.

The little Miss is a pretty short thing, so the only PJ's that fit her are pants and tops (currently 18-24 months and she is 26 months). We have found her in the morning a few times with no pants on, but the diaper has stayed intact.

Our bedtime routine lately has been super aggravating with lots of ups and downs and back and forths (a topic for another time), so it wasn't anything new to hear her chatting in bed far past her bedtime. I went up to tell her to be quiet and saw a white fluffy thing on the floor. I didn't recall a blanket in her bed that looked like that, then quickly realized what it was. I turned on the light and the sweet little thing was sitting naked in her crib with a sheepish, yet proud, look on her face. Hoping it was a one-time event, I calmly admonished her, re-diapered and re-dressed her, and put her back in bed.

Ten minutes later ... Mommy, mommy, mommy! ... the wet sheets must have done her in this time, as yet again the diaper was on the floor and she had peed in her bed. It is quite the challenge to respond appropriately in this situation - you want to get the point across that it is NOT ok, yet don't want to start a game. Thank goodness we had one pair of footie PJ's in her drawer - they are 2 pieces that snap together at the waist. I thought we had fooled her for sure, and she seem exhausted, so I assumed we were done.

Five minutes later ... I go to check on the noise in her room and find a half-nakey girl in her crib, arm out of her shirt (Flashdance-style) and diaper #3 on the floor. You have to be freaking kidding. Who knew she could do snaps? And, snaps in the back no less? (Congrats on the fine motor skills, little gal). The look on her face was just priceless, almost like, why do my pants keep coming off? She seemed kind of bewildered at the whole thing. :) I couldn't stop laughing, nor could Daddy-O, though we tried to shield our faces as best we could.

Our last attempt seemed to work fine - all the de-pantsing must have worn her out - and she was soon fast asleep. I am off to Old Navy today to get zip up PJ's that we will turn backwards, I guess.

Counting my blessings that 3 diapers off = only 1 set of wet sheets. Hallelujah.

My, how the tides have turned

Happy New Year!

Shall we start this year talking about sleep again? Great, let's do!

Just wanted to note for posterity that Miss E has switched things all around and is now a poor school napper and a great home napper!

I never thought this day would come and, while still annoying in its own way, I much prefer the long naps to be on my watch. It does make our school days pretty dicey - who doesn't dread the screaming child on the way home from daycare? - but our home days are much more pleasant. I can count on a 2 hour nap, at least, and yesterday even had to wake her up after 3 hours which has, oh, NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE. She just loves sleeping in her own crib, like the rest of us, I guess.

I'm afraid this may also signal the end of our easy nighttime transitions. We occasionally put her down in the Pack n' Play at a friends house and she generally goes right to sleep and transitions easily back to her own bed. On New Year's Eve, she went down fine, but woke up after a few hours and couldn't go back to sleep in a strange place. She was wide awake when we got home and stayed up for another hour talking to herself in bed. "Twink-a, twink-a, yittle stahr; how I wond-a what you are. Yay!! *clapping*

Cute? Definitely, yes.

Tiring? Also, yes.

Good thing we are generally too tired to have such an active social life. :)

Jinx

Shhh ... don't tell Girly I'm telling you this ...

It has finally happened. She has become a reasonable napper and is getting up at a reasonable time. (Cue hallelujah chorus here).

Everyone kept telling me that after she started walking and expending more energy, she would become a better napper. This just wasn't true for her and I have my suspicion that girls (of the calmer variety) just don't get that busy until closer to their 2nd birthday. Within the last month, I have started to be able to count on a 1 1/2 hour nap at a minimum, closer to 2 hours on average, and 2 1/2 hours on a great day. It is heavenly.

The week or so prior to daylight savings, she had started to sleep until 6:00am every morning, with most mornings at 6:15-6:30am, and even an occasional 7 or 7:15am!! Daylight savings threw us (and everyone else) for a loop for just a few mornings, and even 5:40am was bearable because I knew it would have been 4:40am not that long ago.

I don't know that I can take any credit for this (though, I still swear the sleeping/dancing cow clock helped), but I'm so so SO happy that her inner clock has lined up a little better with the rest of our household.

Here's to hoping that it happens at your house, too ....

Canines

Dear Tooth Fairy,

You may be pretty and you may bring gifts, but I am no fan of yours. This latest round of teeth is a doozey - are you going to pay extra for these when they fall out?

Sincerely,
Mama with drool handprints on all of her things

I thought our girl had a rough time with teething in the past, but it has been nothing compared to this latest round. Her upper canines are for sure coming in, with some more on the bottom just erupting and I think maybe some more molars? All I know is that Girly constantly has her hands in her mouth (practically shoved down her throat) and drools all over the place. And has been doing it for 2+ weeks now.

Poor thing has been waking up early screaming, which has negated some of the cow-is-dancing training that we had going. I give her Motrin in the 4's or 5's and then she will go back to sleep until the cow is awake. :)

Early mornings aren't so rare around here, but she started a new thing of screaming at bedtime for 30 minutes to 1 hour. It partly coincided with my vacation out of town, but I think also had something to do with her teeth. I tried the cry-it-out, but it was just pitiful. I finally gave her a frozen washcloth at bedtime to chew on (our go-to teething aide) and she went down without a peep. Hallelujah.

I've also started a countdown at bedtime that seems to eliminate some of our power struggles (just with me, mind you - that mother/daughter thing starts early). We rock in the chair with her blanket and I tell her we'll rock until I count to 10. Then, I lay her in bed and she asks me to scratch her back (skatch da back!!) - I tell her that I will scratch her back until I count to 5, then it is time to close her eyes and go to sleep.

I like this cuddle time and it it sweet to see her ask for it, but all of these sweet things add on top of each other until our 'brief' bedtime routine lasts 30 minutes. Not exactly what I am looking for when mama still has to make dinner ...

The one in which a good idea backfires

I previously mentioned the new use of a basket of toys / books / calculators in Girly's bed. (Calculator, you say? Yes. She's totally a nerd and I'm totally OK with it.)

This has served us well for the past 10 days or so. Surprisingly, she doesn't seem to really use it ... she may pull out a few of the books as she is falling asleep, but otherwise doesn't pay much attention.

That is, until naps this week. Sunday and Monday resulted in totally disrupted naps as she had a grand ol' time playing with all her toys and talk-talk-talking to herself for over an hour. Yes, I had some alone time to eat my lunch and I didn't have to listen to her cry, but the face-slapping, hair-pulling, crumbles-at-the-drop-of-a-book girl we were left with in the late afternoon was So. Not. Worth It.

So - this is apparently a nighttime tool only. Let's see how that goes.

Sucker

They say one is born every minute, right? I guess I am the one for 8:10pm on the day of my birth in 1977.

I think some of you will feel my pain when I say that getting up at 5:15am for two weeks in a row will inspire you to do crazy things and seek crazy solutions. I mentioned this KID'Sleep alarm clock before and finally found myself desperate enough to order it. Anything with the slightest promise of 10 additional minutes of sleep seems to be worth about $120,000 to me about now.

** I started this post about 10 days ago to keep track of our progress. Progress? Hmmm - you decide. **

It arrived on a Friday (!! happy dance !!) and I put it to the test. Here is the lowdown:

Night/Morning #1: I set the clock, showed Girly the sleeping cow and explained that when the cow was sleeping, she needed to be sleeping. She woke at 5:19am as usual, I went to her room, showed her the sleeping cow and told her to sleep, just like mommy and daddy. Surprisingly, she laid down and was quiet for about 10 minutes. This happened three more times - she cried out, threw all her stuff on the floor, I went in to put it back in her crib and told her to lie down. At 6:03am she was up and I excitedly (this was good acting on my part) showed her the dancing cow and told her it was time to get up.

Aside: Part of the problem with the early waking is that Girly gets up, then poops and then screams out that she is "Poopy! Change diapey!". I feel bad just leaving her there for 30 minutes or more when she is clearly uncomfortable. This was the first night I explained that I would change her diaper and put her back in bed and she was actually OK with it.

Night/Morning #2: Same routine. Girly was excited about the sleeping cow. I decided to put a basket of books and toys in her crib to see if that would improve the throw-crap-out-of-your-crib-until-mommy-gets-it game. She is big time into taking things in and out of baskets. She woke first about 5:20am, I showed her the sleeping cow and laid her down. She was up again about 10 minutes later with a poopy diaper, and same routine. Then, she was quiet until 6:04am when I acted exciting about the dancing cow again. She didn't throw anything out of her crib, so that was a plus.

Morning #3: Could it be this easy? Huz nudged me early in the morning and said, "what time is it?" Ummm ... thanks for waking me up, and it's 6:04am. "Have you heard the Girl?" No. No? NO! She slept until 6:30am which, no joke, is like a frigging miracle.

Morning #4: No, it could not be this easy. Up at 5:22am, showed the sleeping cow and laid her down. Up at 5:53am. I let her cry until about 5:57am, then I went in for a 'teachable moment' (see above re: sucker). I showed her the sleeping cow, again explained that we couldn't get out of bed until the cow was dancing. At 6:00am, when the cow started dancing, I got her out.

Morning #5: I'll take it. Up at 5:02am - see the sleeping cow? - lie down - I'll see you when the cow is dancing. Then, up at 7:03am!!! Love that kid.

Morning #6: Can't remember, but only marginal.

Morning #7: Rated poor to very poor. I have the unfortunate situation of having to get up at 5:15am on Thursdays to leave my house before 6:00am for work. So - Huz was on duty. Girly was up at 5:15am ... when he responded with the cow routine, she was not pleased. I am usually the person that goes in and puts back to sleep and he is the one that gets her up for good. She was probably confused and, well, OOPS on our part. Then, she cried that she was poopy. I changed her and laid her back down. She started crying out that she was poopy again. Crying wolf? (or, is that crying poop?) Huz didn't get her till 6:00am and she really was poopy. Ooops again.

Morning #8: Marginal.

Morning #9: Marginal.

Morning #10: Slept till 6:34am with no waking in the 5's. Happy campers all around! (Well, at least until she skipped her nap that day - can't have it all).

Morning #11: Slept till 6:15am with no mama visit in the 5's. Are we on to something here?

In summary, I do feel that we have made progress. I can't say the progress is entirely due to the clock, but I do honestly feel that it has helped. Plus, the happy "cow dancing!" dance that Girly does when you go in to get her is worth every penny of the $50, and more.

Consider this a warning

Dear 3's, 4's and 5's ....

I haven't seen you in a while. Let me tell you - you weren't missed. It is so rude the way you barge into my sleep and make me stumble through the halls, rubbing my eyes, to get you to go away.

Please stop corrupting my child. She doesn't want or need to see you. There is nothing good that happens when you are around.

If you show yourselves again, I will be forced to resort to more significant measures.

Consider yourself warned.

Signed -
Bleary eyed in the Midwest

Dippity do dah

I promise this isn't a post about early waking.

Except, that, well, I've been about to tear my hair out with all the early waking!

Let's focus on a solution, then, shall we?

Our Girl always asks to eat the second we get her out of her crib. I think some of this is habit, but I also truly think she is hungry, as evidenced by the ungodly amount of food she consumes first thing in the morning.

I've tried all my usual tricks to get her to stay in her bed (quietly): Cry it out. Go in and lay her back down and tell her to sleep. Go get her and have her sleep in our bed (which works on occasion, but usually results in her kicking my face). Try to reason with her and tell her that if it is still dark outside she needs to stay in her crib quietly. (Ha, Ha. And, oh yeah, HA again). Have her play with her toys in her pack n' play in mommy's room while mommy sleeps. Put books in her own crib to play with ...

My newest notion is that I've been wondering if a grumbly stomach has been contributing to her waking up. She eats a lot during the day and generally eats a pretty good volume of food at dinner, but it is mostly fruit and veggies, which doesn't necessarily sustain her for 12 hours. She used to be a cheese monster, but now turns her nose up at cheese, unless it comes in a grilled cheese sammy form. She doesn't eat very much meat and usually refuses meatballs or deli meat or the like.

So, time to get creative with the protein-pushing!

I roasted a chicken in the crock pot (btw - you should do this if you have the time. It is the same price as a rotisserie chicken and you can get a better quality chicken. Just clean out the cavity, rinse and pat dry, rub the skin with spices, put it in a crockpot on high or med-high for about 4 hours and forget it. No liquid or anything!) and Huz was cleaning the meat off the bones while I made Girly dinner. She asked to "eat that!" and I gave her a taste, though she never liked it in the past. She kind of picked at the meat, then I offered her ketchup and mustard and she couldn't get enough! The shredded chicken pieces are perfect for dipping.

I have been trying to avoid most condiments, with the thought being that I wanted her to eat her food as it was and not to always have to add something to it to make it appealing. I've gotten over myself, though, now that I have witnessed the wonders of sauces! She would just eat the ketchup and mustard straight with her fork, so I had to remind her to dip and bite, dip and bite, but she did eat it all up. And, she slept till 6:00am for two mornings in a row! Success! (And, yes, 6:00 is pretty much the best I can hope for ...)

So, if you haven't started the dips yet, you may want to check them out! I am trying to focus on 'healthier' things, like mustard and salsa, but the occasional drizzle of real maple syrup on roasted squash isn't such a bad thing, either.

Silver lining

We recently had our 18-month visit with our parent educator from Parents as Teachers. We talked a lot about music as a good tool for toddlers to teach listening skills. (Lord knows, we could stand to improve on those over here).

Coincidentally, we received a music kit as a gag baby gift from the Huz's co-workers. They thought it was hilarious that our future baby would drive us crazy. Fast forward and I just got it off the shelf a few weeks ago. It does kind of drive us crazy, but Girly really loves it. I added a drum made from an old oatmeal container with seeds inside. The band is in session.

The best nugget I learned, though, was about Girly's tendency for early rising. Our parent educator used to teach elementary school and she has three school-age children. She went back to work full-time after her first child was born and said that her oldest child still gets up early, gets dressed quickly and independently, and is always ready on time to leave for school. Our educator stayed home full-time after her 2nd and 3rd children, and she let them sleep in and their morning routine was much more leisurely. Now, it's a daily struggle to get them up and out of the house.

She was encouraging and said that the things you find hardest to deal with as babies and toddlers are often the things you are most thankful for as your kids get older. (i.e. sleeping, eating, napping, sleeping and - oh yeah - SLEEPING).

So, having an early riser won't solve all our future problems, but I am a little bit more accepting of the idea now.

(A little).

Cruel and Unusual

Yes, I'm a broken record.

Yes, this is again about napping and early waking.

Isn't it amazing how this parenting gig continually kicks you in the ass?

I don't know about you, but I have found teething and its associated uncertainties to be one of the most challenging aspects of parenthood.

As I've whined about before, our Girly slowly evolved into a very poor napper (at home) and just kept waking up earlier and earlier. We kind of fixed the early waking about 5 weeks ago, then dontcha know that Girly went and got sick, sick, sick and it messed everything up. (Frankly, I worried about the sickness, but she slept wonderfully. Ahhh, the conundrums of mommy-ing).

It doesn't help that she must have the slowest-erupting-teeth in all of teeth history. I swear that she has been working on 2 upper and 2 lower molars for about 2 months now. The right ones are now fully erupted while the left ones are now just peeking through. And the gums by her canines are just swelling up, in typical annoying teeth fashion.

I have no issue with crying it out when I can feel reasonably certain that Girly has a full belly and is not in pain. That is where teething has been so hard for me: I can give her Motrin at bedtime, but she wakes 8 or 9 hours later and I don't know if it is habit or pain or both. I felt I should err on the side of caution and give her more Motrin, which worked sometimes but not all the time.

FRUSTRATION!

We finally just decided that it must be habit. Or mostly habit. Or mostly ANNOYING.

On Friday I decided to really push her on her nap to try to get her to finally sleep longer at home. She slept about 30 minutes, cried for 8, slept for 15 minutes, cried for 10, then slept about 45 more minutes. Bliss! Girly was going to be home with me for 6 full days with the holiday weekend, so I decided to push the rest of it, too. I think she cried a little bit early Saturday morning, but for the most part has slept until at least 6:20am every day since. Which is, obviously, amazing. The better part, though, is that her naps have been consistently 1 1/2 hours - 2 hours or a little more ever since. This is revolutionary since we were only getting about 45 minutes.

Again, like I said, broken record. These themes just repeat themselves over and over and over again. (At least in our household). Please slap me next time I whine about our poor sleeper. I'll blame my poor memory on the lack of sleep.

Can I buy you a gift?

I just wanted to say a big THANK YOU for all of your thoughts and tips regarding the sleeping situation.

You (collectively) really are the best.

I wrote the last post a few days before it posted and, wouldn't you know it, I had already formulated some plans by the time the weekend rolled around. Your thoughts helped encourage me to move forward!

So, in no particular order, this is our current approach:

1. Kept the ghetto black out shades. They are not helping with naps, but have at least helped us avoid the issue of light outside at bedtime.

2. Moved back bedtime to 7:00pm. As a few people posted, there are some theories about moving bedtime UP to get a later wake-up time. I think a lot of this comes from Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, which I am a big fan of. Truth be told, though, Girly's bedtime just simply could not be moved earlier than 6:30pm. That would have been ridiculous. I made the decision to just bump it back by 30 minutes (instead of gradually) and to give it a whole week before I judged whether it was working. (Did I already mention that we had kind of toyed with this earlier and I didn't think it worked? I don't think I gave it a fair try.)

3. Added a little pillow to her crib. In true ridiculous fashion, I was rushing around on Friday evening cutting up an old pillowcase and hand sewing a new pillowcase because I was convinced it would help.

4. I downloaded an Ocean Waves for Baby CD from iTunes. I have a tiny iPod stereo that I put in her room and play the ocean sounds continuously all night. (The iTunes reviews said this is a great choice because there aren't any seagull or boat sounds, just waves. Never would have occurred to me to check.) It is good white noise.

The scientist in me would say that I should have tried each approach on it's own to see if it worked. But, in my desperation, I just decided to throw all the spaghetti at the wall and see what stuck.

So, what stuck?

Saturday and Sunday mornings were a slight improvement, but Monday and Tuesday mornings were almost blissful. She slept until 6:45 and 6:30am and I practically had to physically restrain myself from going in and checking on her to make sure she wasn't dead.

Granted, we had a really busy weekend and her naps were sub-par, but I am hoping for a positive trend.

The best outcome of all is that, this morning, she clapped and laughed when I came to get her out of her crib, instead of screaming bloody murder.

I had missed those morning babbles and they are oh. so. sweet.