I so love Fridays! Sleeping in (when Emmy lets me), having lots of time with the munchkin, and general anticipation of a little quality time with friends and family over the next couple of days (and maybe even a little down time for Mommy!) make Fridays feel full of promise. The fact that it's shaping up to be a perfectly gorgeous day doesn't hurt. Perhaps we'll make a sortie to the park after naptime - assuming Emmy cooperates and actually takes one.
I've been fighting a really bad cold all week, but I think I'm on the mend, so things are looking up. If I could have, I would have kissed my choir director when he called me yesterday afternoon to say that rehearsal last night was cancelled - although I'm sure he'd cringe at the thought (for a multitude of reasons!).
Emmy's been acting her age lately - the past two nights she has cried inconsolably when we put her to bed . . . for what seems like forever! This from the child who never used to make a peep unless she was sick or had a legitimate need (hunger, messy diaper, etc.). Now she's a toddler, and smart enough to figure out that if she cries, we try to figure out what's wrong, which means she gets to spend more time with us and less time sleeping.
The first time it happened, we assumed it was because she was fighting a bug, and since it was Friday night, we decided to hold her until she went to sleep while we caught up on what's been happening at The Office. We soon figured out that she was feeling just fine and simply wanted to play instead of sleeping, so I put her back in her crib. After much crying and several attempts by Peter and I to run interference with her, she finally went to sleep. The next night, we tried taking turns putting her back down and telling her to go to sleep, but she kept crying for over half an hour until I held her for a long while.
Last night, we tried letting her cry it out. For the first 15-20 minutes, we took turns putting her back down again every five minutes or so, to no avail. After 30 minutes, I tried expressing displeasure and telling her she was naughty and threatening consequences, but that definitely didn't help. She got so worked up after 45 minutes, I figured she might actually go to sleep faster if I got her to calm down, so I held her again for a while in her room. It took several cycles of holding her and calming her down, putting her back in the crib, her crying again, and me holding her again before she was finally too exhausted to fight it anymore and went to sleep. We do NOT want this to turn into a nightly power struggle. Any ideas for how we can break this cycle?
Well . . . I've gotta go play with my girl. Hope you have a terrific day! :)
Friday, March 2, 2007
It's a new dawn, it's a new day . . . and I'm feelin' good!
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2 comments:
There is only one way and it breaks your heart to do it. Put her in bed...Leave...Ignore. It is the hardest thing you can do as a parent at this point of her life. You know her cries, you know if she really needs something versus the I want attention cries. A couple " go to sleep Emmy" hollers from the other room with reassure her that you are still there, but after a few nites ( or a few dozen) she will get the idea that bed is for sleeping.
Okay, here is the female Smith advice. Erin too was horrible falling asleep, and she started alot earlier, around oh birth. Eventually my dad figured out something when he babysat her for me one night when she was 9 months old. When he turned on the radio, she went right to sleep. My mom found out Celtic music, especially with bagpipes calmed her down right away. Since Emmy loves string quartet music, I would say find a CD player with repeat and a CD of string quartet music, as calming as possible and play that as a bedtime routine. It has worked like a charm for Erin and she still turns on her music to fall asleep at night, even thought sometimes she substitutes Depeche Mode or Enya for the Celtic.
Hope that helps.
Tracie
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