Do you Hear That??

Neither do I.  That’s the sound of silence at 8:30 pm.  Bedtime had been a battle with my son over the last few months but this past week we finally got back into our groove.  It wasn’t so much the getting into bed part, but more of the staying in bed part.  Every night was something straight out of Adam Mansbach’s book “Go the F**k to Sleep”.  It went a little something like this:

A:  Mom, will you lay here with me?
Me:  Sure.  I will stay for 5 minutes.

A:  Ok.

(after 5-10 minutes I get up kiss A good night & go downstairs)

Me:  Good night, sleep tight.

A:  Good night Mommy

….30 seconds later

A:  Maaaaaa!!!!! 

Me:  (running up 2 flights of stairs)  yes?

A:  (Insert any number of excuses phrases here)  I need you/ I’m scared/ I’m thirsty/ I have to go potty

I would start all over again - sit with him for 5-10 minutes until he calmed down, let him know that I can see him on the monitor and will check on him in a little while & then proceed to go back downstairs.

….1-2 minutes later

A:  Maaaaaa!!!!!   Can you hear me????

Me:  Yes A, what is it?

A:  I need you/ I’m scared/ I’m thirsty/ I have to go potty

You get the point.  This would repeat for about 2 hours until A would fall asleep from exhaustion and I would be stressed beyond my limit. 

So, what’s changed?  I finally figured out that A’s biggest concern when going to sleep was me being 2 floors away in the downstairs living room.  He didn’t care that I could hear and see him on the monitor – he wanted the physical proximity of me while he was falling asleep.  I didn’t have to be IN his room, but he wanted me nearby.  So instead of sitting with my laptop on the couch downstairs after putting A to bed, I relocated myself across the hall to my bedroom until he’s asleep.  Since making the change he not only falls asleep faster but is sleeping more soundly – no more wake ups during the night.

It’s amazing how much better you feel when you get uninterrupted sleep.

Sleepy Time

I’ve been making good progress on changing around A’s room.  This past weekend the mattress arrived for his big huge boy bed.  I was a bit apprehensive about how he would take to this new bed considering when we switched him to the toddler bed his sleeping habits did a 180.  There was no way to slowly transition to this one, we kind of had to go cold turkey.  The mattress was arriving very early on Saturday, so Friday night we did the conversion of his toddler bed to the full size frame and allowed him to sleep in our room for the night (a treat!). 

Let me say, these convertible cribs are not very easy to convert.  Going from the crib to the toddler bed was easy…just remove the front of the crib and viola, toddler bed.  But going to the full size frame was a much harder feat.  After a couple hours and a lot of frustration we finally had it.

Add the mattress + bedding and we were ready for the reveal.  A was thrilled to say the least!  There was lots of bouncing on the bed in celebration and the Buzz Lightyear pillow became an instant BFF.

When bedtime came I wasn’t sure what to expect.  As much as A loved his new bed when we introduced him to it I was pretty sure that would all change when the lights went out….and I was right.  He was scared that the rails we put up on the sides would fall down and that he would fall out of the bed and was also scared of being alone.  Who could blame him?!  It was a huge new big bed, high off of the ground and pretty intimidating.   Considering it all though, he did really well his first few nights.  The first night I spent a few extra minutes sitting with him after we read books and he only woke up a couple times during the night.  By night #3 he only woke up once…a huge improvement from a couple weeks ago.  The only drawback so far, is that while he’s sleeping more soundly through the night he’s regressed to his 5:30 wake up time....

We’ll have to work on that part ;)



Uninterrupted Sleep, and a Review

A quick update to our sleeping situation:  The last couple nights have been great and we’ve had uninterrupted sleep – yay!  A is still getting up early (6 am) but he’s able to play by himself or watch TV so that hubby and I get in a few extra winks.  Another big development has been that A asked stopped wearing an overnight diaper at night!  He’s officially 100% potty trained.  Woot Woot!!  I thought not wearing the diaper at night would result in more wake ups to use the potty, but it hasn’t.  He’s able to go the whole night without needing the potty.

On a separate note, I bought this magnetic responsibility chart made by Melissa & Doug a few months ago for A when it was on sale at amazon.  I love their toys, so when I saw this I just couldn’t pass it up.

I just recently opened it to start using it with him and I have to say it’s pretty cute.  It includes tasks that are applicable now, ones for the future plus a couple blank ones for us to write our own.  My favorite is the “no whining” one, which I doubt he’ll be earning a smiley for anytime soon. LOL  When he finally does earn a perfect weekly score, he’ll be allowed to pick a prize from the prize bag.  A gets so excited to earn a smiley face and in just the last week has been more interested in dressing himself and doing other things for himself.  So if you’re looking for something to motivate your preschooler I recommend giving this a try.

A Nightmare on OUR Street

It all started one night with the pitter patter of feet across the hallway and then the heart wrenching words “Moooommmyyyy, I had a bad dream.”  The first time it happens you feel awful for your child – you rock them, hold them do whatever you can to make them feel safe and get them back to sleep.  However, when it happens multiple times a night for weeks on end, my empathy (and patience) starts to run a bit thin.   A has always talked in his sleep, but these nightmares are a new occurrence.  So I of course ran off to read whatever I could about toddler nightmares, Turns out that it’s normal for kids to start having them around 3 years old.  Yup, that’s my kid - the punctual one.

They started out of the blue and then got worse after A got bit by a tick 2 weeks ago.  He started to freak out that the “bugs were going to get him.” My fix:  a special magic potion we sprayed each night around his bed that creates a force field no bug could get through (aka a spray bottle with water and a label made on photoshop).  Well, that took care of 1 waking….

Next up my sleeve: my spur of the moment dream catcher.  I took a shell necklace I had laying around, tied it to the lower part of his bedpost and told him that the magic necklace will take away all his bad dreams.  Ok…that took away another waking.

So we’re down to 1x a night and I’m out of crafty ideas.  Sometimes I wonder if he’s really had a bad dream or just wants more snuggle time with us, but I can’t ever make him think I don’t believe him.  So I try my hardest (in my sleepiness) to treat each time seriously, comfort him best I can and bring him back to bed.  And until this phase comes to an end (hopefully soon) I will simply be buying more coffee and concealer for the baggies under my eyes.

Eyes Wide Open

I woke up in the middle of the night a couple weeks ago and for some reason had a feeling I should open my eyes vs. rolling over and trying to drift back off to sleep.  When I opened my eyes I almost screamed out of sheer surprise.  Staring right back at me was my son – standing next to our bed!  He had walked over to our room because he too had woken up in the middle of the night.  It took me a minute to process if I was dreaming or not since he wasn’t saying anything, he was just standing there looking at me.  Then he said “Hi Mama, I couldn’t sleep.”

I walked him back to bed and then went back to bed myself, but I couldn’t quite fall asleep.  I kept opening my eyes expecting to see him back at my bedside.  I think it might be time for a lock on our bedroom door. LOL

This week’s Working Mommy Wednesday prompt from Julia over at Work, Wife, Mom….Life! is: I woke up in the middle of the night and....

It works, It works, It works!

 

I can’t believe it, but it actually worked!!  I am officially in love with the GoodNite Lite.  I know, I know, I sound like a commercial for it, but I am truly in awe of how it worked and how easily A has adapted.  I highly recommend it for anyone who is having bedtime/wake up problems with their little ones. We’ve successfully moved A from a 5:15/5:30 wake up to a 6:00 wake up time and in another couple days I’ll start moving him towards 6:30.

Today was Day 6 and our morning ran exactly as if you read it out of the instruction booklet:  A woke up at 5:30 (with a leaky diaper).  We changed him, walked him back to bed and told him to stay in bed until “Moona” changed into a sun.  Then to our surprise, he stayed in bed until 6:00 (a half hour is a loooong time for a toddler).  At 6:00 on the button I heard him say over the monitor, “Mommy, Moona is yellow.  Time to get up.”   

My husband better eat his words when the told me I was crazy for spending $40 on a night light.  Hmmm, it worked didn’t it?!  Best $40 I ever spent.

I am so proud of my little man. 

If you’d like to get your own you can order it directly from the company’s website: The GoodNite Lite

Success! (Day 4)

SCORE:

Goodnite Lite - 4

A - 0

I didn't need to set the clock for 5:45 because big boy slept all the way through until 6:00!!!  A record for our house recently.  (short backstory I should have given earlier:  A used to be a fabulous sleeper since 10 weeks old, but hasn't slept so great since we switched him to the toddler bed in August). 

Maybe it was the goodnite lite, or maybe it was the fact he didn't have a nap yesterday....I don't care, we got sleep!

Going to try for 6:00 tomorrow and see what happens.  Fingers crossed!!

GoodNite Lite - Day 3

SCORE:

Goodnite Lite - 3

A - 0

Well, A definitely has the concept of moon=bed and sun=get up, now it will just be a matter of consistency.

I'm happy to report that there were no 4am wake ups.  Yay!  That's at least a step in the right direction.  A woke up around 5:30 so I had to go in and explain that he needs to stay in bed until he sees the sun. He resisted at first, but then I put on the starlight turtle he has and told him to count the stars....and he did!  My husband and I were laughing in our room listening to him on the monitor count to 10 over and over.  He must have drifed back to sleep because he got quiet and then around 5:50 I heard him exclaim "it's yellow!!  Time to get up". 

So the goodnite lite sticks around for another day.  Tomorrow I'm keeping with the 5:45 time one more time before we move on.

GoodNite Lite - Day 2

The score is now:

Goodnite Lite - 2

A - 0

Last night when it was time for bed, A walked into his room, saw the light and said, "hi Moon-a!  The moon is blue Daddy which means it's time for bed!".  Now getting him to sleep is another story, but at least he knew that the light meant it was time for bed.  With the exception of A getting up at 4 and 5am again (for comforting & a diaper leak) I would say this morning was another win.  Both my husband and I were able to get him back to sleep at 4 and 5 am and when he woke up at 5:40 (5 minutes after I set the light for) he immediately yelled out "it's orange Mommy!!!"  Ok, so the sun is more of a yellow color than orange, but he knew what he meant.  When I got into his room I tried to be as excited as I could (for 5:30 am) and reinforce that yes the sun was on and he could now get out of bed.

I'm setting the clock for 5:45 tomorrow…..and hoping there are no 4 am wake ups again.

GoodNite Lite – Day 1

According to the book that came with this thing, the first day should be used for helping your child correspond his current waking up time with the sun.  So, I set the light to switch over to a sun at 5:30 am…..his current wake up time.  

Last night before bed, I introduced A to his new night light. At first he was a big apprehensive, but we gave the light a name (Moon-a, like Luna on Bear in the Big Blue House) and that seemed to help.  I set the timer, he helped me plug it in and he went to sleep….. 

….around 4:30 am he started.  For whatever reason, he woke up and wanted some comforting.  So I went in, rubbed his back for a minute and he went back to sleep.  Then at 5:00 am he did the same thing.  Replay:  go in, rub his back, go back to bed. All this time I’m thinking to myself, well at least he’s staying in his room and in his bed. 

AGAIN at 5:30 he wakes up and this time wants his diaper changed.  Since this is the time I set for the “sun” to come on I went in and showed him that the light had changed from a moon to a sun.  He immediately stopped crying, looked and said “Huh, look at the sun Mommy!”  Then while I changed his diaper I talked to him more about the sun meaning it’s time to get up and not getting out of bed until he sees it.  His reply was “so, blue means bed and yellow means up?”  I was like YES!!  Maybe he’s actually getting this after one day.

I'm considering today a win in my book.  We’ll see what happens tomorrow and the next day.  I already set the clock to go off at 5:35 tomorrow…..