Bedtime Commentary

So I was starting to get pretty discouraged about the whole bedtime thing because as of the beginning of the week she was still crying for about 45 minutes before falling asleep, but then we had a few days in a row of nothing, so that was good. Last night was pretty funny as she was obviously not ready to go to sleep and tried a few new techniques to get our attention.

(When I was laying down with her for cuddle time before I left the room) "I go pee on the potty by myself. No, you don't get up out of bed." and off she went to the potty by herself. Sort of. She went to the potty but didn't do anything.

She came out to use the potty one more time after I had left, so Chris and were sitting on the couch, our movie paused, watching her pretend she had to go pee. At one point she even stood up, grabbed a handful of popcorn off the table and sat back down again, like she was a part of the movie night. Ha!

Then there was the yelling: "Mommy?" MOMMY!" MOMMY!!!" Mommy?" Mommy". "I'm getting up out of bed now!" I'M GETTING UP OUT OF BED NOW!!!

But she didn't; she really hates having the door closed (ok, she hates having the door closed with me holding it shut) so she doesn't get out of bed anymore. And finally she went to sleep.

Watching the lap top

What to do when there is a Laker game on AND parenting to do? Put a movie in the lap top, of course! This is Gemma watching daddy's computer.

Gemma and Elias

This is Gemma and Elias, our good friend Andy and Audrey's baby. Gemma really likes Elias and always asks Andy and Audrey where he is if they are not with him. When he comes to our house she wants to hold him and play with him. It's fun when we babysit because she wants to show him everything; dinosaurs, books, cards, TV... Elias just gets really wide eyed and excited. He is a good practice dee dee (little brother).

Chores I've been putting off...

..but had to do in the last week because of Gemma.

1) Clean all the bathtub toys. Yep, all you experienced moms out there already know what I am going to say; she pooped in the tub. This was her first time ever doing that. Thankfully, I was already out of the tub, getting my own jammies on and when I came back there were these floaties and she was sort of looking at them nervously...Ewww ewwww ewwww. But anyway, all teh toys got nice and clean that night.

2) Her body pillow and sheets got washed. The sheets I try to do sort of regularly, but the body pillow had all kinds of toothpaste and drool spots on it I've been meaning to wash off but didn't have time to. Until today, and I was forced to make time because she had DRAWN ON THEM WITH MARKER!! Ahh! We have no idea when this happened, but tonight after supper there were some large orange scribbles on both, and so mommy got the Shout and a toothbrush out and set to work. The sheets came clean no problem in the washing machine, and I got it all out of the pillow, too, thankfully. This is why nothing but Crayola shall come past these doors; so washable just like they say! Crayola marker has so far come out of everything, so I was relieved.

Park

Just some park pics with our good friends. Gemma blowing bubbles and letting her friends try it, too, playing in the dirt under the fort, and really excited about some flyer... Must have been a good sale!

No More Tears

Last night she went down with no tears. I left the room, she called me back a minute later to help with the blanket and she was out. And didn't wake up once in the night.

:)

We will now resume our regular programming of stories and funny things Gemma says, and pictures too.

Plan C continued...

So the plan is working, I guess. Still 10-20 minutes of crying and begging. "I need daddy/water/mommy/potty", but I just sit in the hallway for 10 minutes until she resigns herself to bed and let her cry it out. It usually ends with a "Mommy? I need blankie" so I tuck her in and that's it. Not helping our progress at all is the cold she has: "I got a booger!" every 3 minutes, and "I got a bad cough" every 10 minutes. She has tissue by her bed so I don't go in for that, but it is sucky for her. The other hurdle is we lost her sucky (soother). She has two, and one got lost in the daytime last week, and the other one I put in bed with her on Friday night and it was gone in the morning. She REALLY likes her sucky, especially at sleep time, so it has been hard for her.(She is not allowed to take it out of the house, and we try to put it away unless it is nap time/bed time). SO not only does she have to go to sleep without mommy, she has to do it without her second favorites comfort object. Chris and I did a thorough search of our main room, landing, our bedroom, and the office and nothing, so they have to be in her bedroom somewhere. Sigh! Poor thing. It is a good time to wean her from it I guess, which is how I approached it the first night it was gone, but after a few nights and days of her asking after it I just wish we had it for her. It would help her sleep on her own better, that's for sure.

Plan C, day 3

We did it! At least, a huge improvement from the last two nights. Your encouragement meant so much to me and inspired me to keep going, so thanks for taking time to comment.

Last night when I left the room she knew it was coming and what was going to happen. We did the come out, pick up, put her back in bed, "good night!" repeat routine for about 15 minutes, but it was much more calm. She knew what was up and didn't have the same fight. No running away, no tears, no needs. Half the time she would just walk out to where I was and stand there watching me, waiting for me to come and get her.

She did keep wanting the door open, so to avoid the panic hysteria of the last two nights I told her I would leave the door open as long as she stayed in her bed. She tested it a few times, but I was right there, and said, "OK, Gemma's not in bed, I'm closing the door" and she would leap right back in. She knew from the last two nights that I meant it. (She did creep out once to go to her doll bed and get a different baby, but she crept over and right back to bed so I didn't do anything.) This testing stage took about 5 minutes then for the next 20 minutes she lay in her bed; talking to her babies ('Hush, Hushhhhh, shhh', 'Don't worry baby'), trying to look at books beside her bed, and lots of tossing and turning. She drank some water, too: she gets now that she can reach her water by herself from her bed and can do it by herself. I sat on a stool by the door reading a book - ready to close the door if she got up. After 20 minutes of quiet laying in bed with me outside the door she did call out, "Mommy? Gemma freezing cold! I need blanket!" so I did go in and pull her duvet up, and left again and she was asleep in minutes.

So the length of time was the same, but there was a peace and calm there. I had 20 minutes of free time reading. No tears, no hysterics. Thank you Jesus!

So hopefully it continues. Have a great weekend all.

Plan C Report

Well, Plan C was is about the most awful thing I've had to do as a parent. Even worse than giving her her yucky medicine, because unlike that Plan C drags on and on and on. To be honest, smacking her hand when she disobeys does not bother me at all; it's immediate, it's necessary, it works, and then life moves on with a lesson learned. Tonight went on for about 50 minutes again, with a continuous crescendo of tears and sweat and begging. Finally, when she was so exhausted and my heart was completely broken, I got her a treat from her potty prize bag and said, 'If you lay down and go to sleep now Mommy will give this you,' and she was out in 3 seconds. Then I went and bawled my eyes out.

Of course the whole thing is my fault to begin with; I should have taught her to sleep on her own from the get go. I didn't and I paid the price. We will continue with a modified Plan C tomorrow.

Plan C

So Plan C is in effect, following the advice of Allison and Trina. Pick her up, put her back. Pick her up, put her back. I didn't count the number of times I did this (pregnancy has destroyed my ability to count) but it took an hour. She was so exhausted by the end, and I felt so bad; she was standing so desperately looking at me and crying, saying, "Look at my eyes! I so tired!" meaning, 'come lay down with me and put me to sleep' and as heartbreaking as that was it re-affirmed how much we needed to do this because at 2 years old she doesn't know how to go to sleep by herself.

Our whole night time used to be so sweet and tender, and now it is a struggle from the get go. Jammies are now a fight. Teeth brushing is now a fight. She won't lay down and let me read her a story. She needs a drink. She needs to potty. She needs daddy. So it was a LONG evening. I am hoping it gets better soon, and happier.

Sigh.