It is no secret that I have one precocious toddler. She is extremely opinionated, smart, and spirited. She's also very friendly, kind, giving, and tender. I welled up with tears yesterday when she was skipping along holding her daddy's hand pointing out all of the things she saw. That is something etched into memory and one of those moments where I'll hold forever. That's how I will remember toddler Mari. Brightly colored clothes, long, curly, and wild hair, a giant smile on her face, and her tiny body vibrating with energy, she is either jumping, skipping, dancing, or doing all of them.
Anyway, here lately, we've been having an issue with our bedtime routine. I think it has something to do with the holidays and being thrown off track. Regardless, we've all been suffering. Since it is the first full day back to the grind for us all, we were apprehensive the night before to her reaction. Similar to how it has been for the past several days, she's thrown a disastrous temper tantrum and Don and I are completely beside ourselves. At first, we thought she would pass out in her fit of rage. That has only happened once. The other times, she's stayed awake until long after we've gone to bed. We have relented and have allowed her to sleep with us. I don't mind now that we have a larger bed. It is actually nice having the whole family together. However, it would be nice to wake up and be held by my husband. :) Any tips or advice? For the record, we've never had a bedtime issue like this before. Not for this long. I figured we probably just need time to get into a routine.
Also, for those of you interested, I wanted to showcase some hits & misses with the gifts we received this year. I will do that in a separate post, complete with graphics.
1 comment:
I wish I had some magic answer, but I do know your pain. Brooke was in the habit of sleeping with us (totally my fault) and we had all kinds of grief getting her to bed and especially getting her to sleep in her own bed. Ultimately, I ended up going in to her room with her and laying in her bed with her until she fell asleep - of course, this meant many nights where I'd end up sleeping in her room until 3 or 4 am because I fell fast asleep before she did, but it did help her get back on her routine. I still sit in the room with the girls until they fall asleep but I remind myself that in those quiet moments, they are sharing stories with me and someday they won't want to do that any more.
With both girls, what I have found is that the 2 hour nap they had to take at school (between the ages of 3.5 and 5) does us in. The girls were simply not tired because they'd gotten that two hour nap during the day. I still battle that with Briana, she'll lay in bed awake a good 30-45 minutes after Brooke falls asleep, but I'm just holding out hope that it will be like Brooke and change when we get to shed that nap.
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