Let me start by saying that I totally realize ALL of the problems I'm about to vent about were caused by Lofton & I. Yep, we created a monster. And now we're trying to right our wrongs and it is oh-so-hard.
Bedtime. I loathe you. I dread you all day long. You are the reason for the deep purple bags under my eyes. The reason I pay twice as much for concealer as I do the rest of my makeup combined. Bedtime, you suck. Here's why:
In January, we kidnapped Reese from the comfort and security of his crib. We threw him into his big, scary full-sized bed. And we thought {although it was a tad more Lofton than me} since the bed was so new and different we should help him adjust. So Lofton started snuggling with Reese until he fell asleep. Not a big deal at first. But January turned to February, February to March, and here we are in April.
Truthfully, we probably wouldn't have put the brakes on snuggle time EXCEPT snuggle time has bled into nap time which has totally disrupted Reese's school naps. Evidently he decided he could ONLY sleep with Daddy-O or Mama and so he started refusing to nap. Shoot. And there was also the issue of him waking up at all hours of the night and then for the day at around 5:00 a.m..
When we went for a check-up last week I tried asking Dr. Glaze {in a round about, accept no responsibility for creating this situation, hypothetically speaking way} for some suggestions on how we could get Reese to nap at school. Long story short he called me out on our bad sleep habits at home.
He basically said what I had been thinking-- In little man's toddler brain he thought that when he fell asleep with us next to him, it meant we would stay next to him all night. Translation-- he couldn't sleep without us. Ever.
Enter: Bedtime boot camp. The first night {Wednesday} was horrible, Thursday night was lots better, but obviously a fluke. Friday night sucked again and so have the past two nights. Reese literally screams our names at the top of his lungs until either he exhausts himself and falls asleep OR we succumb to guilt and go in to pat his back.
I will say, that despite the nighttime trauma, he is no longer waking up during the night and he seems much more rested when he wakes up in the morning. He slept past 6:30 both mornings this weekend which hasn't happened since January.
And so, that is our real life. The not fun part of parenting that I've come to despise. Why must this be so hard?
2 comments:
Ugh, I hate all these non-fun things that come with parenting too. As for bedtime and naptime, we've had it pretty easy since I have been a huge fan of crying it out since Coop was a baby. But, with two moves in two months right when he turned two (plus, we had the idiotic idea to transfer him to a bed at this chaotic time), his usual sleep schedule was terrible messed up. Since he hadn't cried it out in such a long time, it was kind of a rude awakening for us. Not to mention it seemed like he could scream extra long since he was older. BUT...it didn't last long at all and was totally worth it. And now that he's three, I can't even remember the last time we had to do that. So, it does seem like the worst thing ever at the time, but know that there is an end in sight and you will get your good sleeper back soon. Of course, then something else unpleasant will come up (like potty training...yuck!). Guess these are just the joys of parenthood! Love reading your blog =)
I agree. Crying it out is horrible at the time (and Dow is much tougher than me), but it was definitely worth it.
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