Progress

The toddler bed saga continues…

The night after I posted our toddler bed issues, I knew something had to change, but I still wasn't sure what to do. After her bath and after we read, I turned off the lights as usual, and as usual, she started getting all worked up. Then she said, “It’s too dark!”  I knew then it was going to be another long night if I didn't try something new.  So I said, “Ok, I’ll leave the bathroom light on, and I won’t shut your door, but you cannot get out of bed, ok?” She said, “OK,” but I doubted it would work. I tucked her in, and walked out. Cringing, I waited for the wailing to begin, but lo and behold, nothing! She didn’t cry! She didn’t call out for me! She didn’t get out of bed! Not one time! I didn’t hear a peep!  

Now, mind you, I’ve been trapped in her room with her every night for almost a week (and yes, I realize I’m choosing to do that, but still…) so I was ecstatic. I got so much done! I happily worked on laundry, loaded the dishwasher, and straightened the house. I watched Bethenny Getting Married in real time! Man, was I happy. My prayers had been answered! The stand-off was over!

Around 11:30, I checked on her, found her to be sleeping soundly, shut her door, and turned off the bathroom light.

I fell into bed as all mothers with babies and toddlers and 16 year olds must do, and feel right to sleep.

The next thing I knew, I was jolted awake from a ruckus blaring over the monitor. She was screaming, crying, and her little fists were just pounding away on her door. I looked over at the clock. 12:30. Lovely.

I was too exhausted to help her fall back to sleep so we slept on the guest bed together. 

The next morning I realized maybe it’s the door being closed that’s bothering her. 

So last night, I left the door open again along with bathroom light and she was happy with that. She went right to sleep with no drama and no getting out of bed again.  A MIRACLE I tell you!  

Then I left and went to the movies with my mom, sister and DAD (yes we dragged him to Eclipse!!) Chris stayed home with Scarlett and reported that she never got out of bed or cried.  At midnight when we got home, we shut her door so we wouldn’t wake her since my parents are staying with us for the weekend.

And no kidding, not 20 minutes after shutting the door, she woke up and started banging on it.  I opened her door, and she walked right back over to her bed, got back in, and went back to sleep. It’s the craziest thing!  So we left her door open all night, and she was fine. 

The only problem is that she woke up at 6 am and came into my room wide awake and ready for the day.  At least we’re making HUGE progress.  I am a much happier mommy after a really good two nights! Thank you to all the supportive comments and advice!

Toddler Bed Woes

We converted Scarlett's crib last weekend to a toddler bed, and I'm regretting it quite a bit! But there's no going back now. We probably could have waited longer because she never tried to get out of her crib; I just thought she would enjoy a big girl bed now that she's two. She also loves big beds so I thought it would be a fun transition for her. Um, not so much. 

She's doing great at nap time. I put her down, she doesn't make a peep, and she doesn't get out of bed. I've been bribing her some though, and she gets a Starburst when she wakes up if she doesn't cry and doesn't get out, but hey it works, and if it weren't for naptime I might have lost my mind by now.

But these last few nights have been full of drama. She likes the bed; she gets right in and snuggles up. But she wants us to stay in her room with her. She pats the floor by her bed and directs us to "Sit here!" and "Mommy, go get your pillow!" When I put her down and leave, she freaks out, gets out of bed, and pounds on the door in hysterics.

We've been giving in and have sat in her room until she falls asleep. One problem with this is that sometimes we're in there for 20 minutes and sometimes it takes over an hour. My hope is that after a week or so, she'll get used to the bed, and we won't have to sit with her anymore, but this could also become a big problem.

We have one of those saftey knobs on the inside of her door so she can't get out. I'm thinking we may have to try putting a gate up and leave her door open instead; maybe then she won't feel so alone. But we've always shut her door when she sleeps, and it doesn't bother her at naptime so I'm not sure what the deal is. I don't think I'll feel so bad making her cry it out if she's crying at a gate instead of a closed door though. We're also still letting her have her paci when she sleeps so it's not that. 

Right before bedtime at night she's all smiles. She takes her bath, and then we read. She likes to get a chair for herself and then one for T Boone, her zebra.

What makes me crazy is the DRASTIC difference between naptime and nighttime. Because of how well she does for her nap, I know she can do the same at night, but she just will not give in.

I am thankful that I had an easy time with potty training. Dealing with both of those right now would just be too much! Thank you Lord for the free potty training pass! Much appreciated!

Artiste

On a recent trip to my parents' in Oklahoma, my mom took us to Lakeshore Learning so Scarlett could pick out some new toys. I had never been there before even though we apparently also have one in Dallas. It's a neat little store full of educational games and toys. She wound up getting Scarlett a slew of stuff for painting. We went home, set it all up outside, and let her have at it. Of course she loved it, and I loved watching her try something new and fun.

My heart...

belongs to these two.

Moving is a Dirty Word

For the record, I hate moving. And I will never ever live on the second floor or higher of any building again unless it involves a door man, an elevator, and a live in maid. Our house is only about 5 miles away from our old apartment so we did a lot of the moving ourselves which actually made things a lot harder and dragged the moving process on and on. Just to move one box down to the car required us to climb six flights of stairs, so we were exhausted going back and forth.

Now that the moving part is over, we're just dealing with the tornado of finding a place for everything again. I thrive on order and organization in my house so all the boxes we are still unpacking and my long to-do list (hang that picture, mount that mirror, find a spot for those blankets, and so on) are driving me batty. I don't think I've sat down in three weeks.

When we first moved in, Scarlett and the cats were all thrown off. Scarlett didn't want to sleep in her new room, and the cats howled all night long. Vito got stuck out in the garage one night by accident with no food or litter box and he decided to relieve himself on a recliner that the owners of the house are leaving there for awhile. Lovely! Needless to say, things have been a little crazier than my liking.

However.

I am so happy with our house, the neighborhood, and the extra space. The cats and Scarlett are finally settling in. I have a kitchen vegetable squirter again! (Seriously, try living without one on your kitchen sink for a year and you'll see why I'm so happy to have it back!) We finally get to grill out again! Park our cars in a garage! Be as loud as we want inside! Hooray!

Scarlett gets to go outside more & she's very happy about that. She loves checking the mailbox, watching daddy mow, waiting for the garbage truck to come, and of course playing out in the backyard---these are all very new to her since we've been in the apartment for awhile. She also loves the garage and running around on the driveway...can you see her?

And both Scarlett and Peanut enjoy the new window seats...(This is now one of my all time favorite pictures too)

All in all, I'm just relieved we survived the move, that we were even able to move, and that things are getting back to normal.

If Chris gets a principal position in Oklahoma next year and we decided to move again, I might just lose my mind. At least that gives me 12 months to forget just how awful moving actually is.