Tag / Sleep

by Kelsey

Night Talks

For several months now, our nighttime ritual with Cam and Demi is to read books, turn out the light, talk about our favorite parts of our days and then turn on music and go to sleep.

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And for several months each of their responses for the highlights of their day have been fairly appropriate for their age–they just say something that’s easy and top of mind, like, “My favorite part of the day was when you came home, mommy.” Or, “Eating ice cream!”

I always have to work on Cam for what he learned, or what was interesting at school, or anything beyond the surface.

This evening though, I got some thoughtful highs and lows from his day and I loved it! First he told me that there was actually a “bad part of the day”. He described the trees at his school and how they have big roots and told me he tripped and fell over the root, split his jeans and got a bloody knee. He then showed me the cut. Oh man he was cute talking about this big mishap.

Then he said, “Oh and there was a funny part of the day too!” He went on to tell me that he was playing at the water table and his classmate Seth knocked it over and it splashed all over him. And he laughed and was looking at my reaction to see if I thought it was funny too.

He asked me about my day and I told him it actually wasn’t a great workday because one of my coworkers quit and it was sad because I liked working with this person. I said I won’t really be seeing them or working with them anymore.

Cam then said that it was kind of like when his 3rd grade buddy (they are paired with a 3rd grader for a once weekly activity) moved away and wasn’t going to his school anymore. He said he wouldn’t be seeing them anymore.

I just loved everything about this little conversation–that he is really thinking about his day and determining what to tell me, that he is clearly starting to feel more comfortable at school based on his willingness to dive into the details, and that he was able to relatemy work situation to his world. 

I don’t always love how quickly these kids are growing up, but I do enjoy the perks of his growing brain and the new levels of interaction we get to have. ❤

by Kelsey

Night Terrors

Okay, so Demi actually does get night terrors, maybe once every other week, but what I’m actually referring to with the title of the post is my children. My perfect little angel faces that seem to have a tough time going to bed lately. And staying in bed. Any bed. Pick a bed. If only they would just stay in a bed.

Tonight was a fine example.

Joe went out for a rare meet-up plus drinks with an old friend. He left the house at 7:45 as we were wrapping up bath time. The following 1.75 hours nearly broke my spirit.

First up was Demi. In addition to the usual antics (telling me she wasn’t tired after telling me she was tired and asking for bread which she stuffed into her mouth in one bite), she also went through the following excuses to not go to sleep:

  • “Me want my daddy”
  • “Where is my daddy?”
  • “Why?”
  • “Where Coco?”
    • I then proceeded to turn the house upside down looking for Coco and as I was giving up with Demi whining in the other room, Cam confessed he hid Coco behind Demi’s bed
  • “Where Hattie?”
    • Hattie was quite a bit easier to find thank god
  • “Me blanket”
    • I pulled up the sheet only because it’s a warm night
  • “No, other blanket”
    • I pulled up the second blanket
  • “I have a snaggle”
    • Last time she said that, she actually did have a giant rip in her fingernail that was snagging the sheets, so mom guilt from that caused me to turn on lights and clip her non-existent snaggle
  • “Brother coughing. Too loud.”
    • Seriously!?
  • “Where’s my daddy? Me sad. Me want my daddy.”
  • “Me pinotail in my way” (followed by a fake cry)

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Next up was Cam.

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Since Demi took so long to fall asleep, he got more than just his “20 minutes of cartoons” which always makes him extra greedy for more. I warned him before putting Demi to bed that we’d have to turn the TV off immediately after I came out and he agreed that was okay (“unless it’s really close to the end,right mom?”). So, of course, I turn off the TV and tears.

My next move was to tell Cam all about crazy Demi so he would potentially act more mature about bedtime and cut mom a break. It seemed as though it was going to go that way because he calmed down and then:

  • “I must not have had enough dinner”
    • Gave him a cheese stick
  • “I’m still hungry”
    • I explain it takes time for cheese sticks to travel to the stomach
  • He pours his blue cup of water from dinner into Demi’s pink cup from dinner so he could reclaim the pink cup he wanted so bad. Then he drinks the contents. Lo and behold the pink cup had a sprinkling of mom and dad’s salad topping (which included chili flakes) and he proceeds to lose his mind over the burning. Tears, running around, gargling water, crying, asking how long it’s going to burn. After 4 cups of water and 1 cup of milk, he says it’s a little better.
  • “I have to go to the bathroom”
  • “I don’t think I got it all out”
  • “Where’s Bun-Bun? I can’t sleep without Bun-Bun.”
    • I systematically tear apart his room, then check the living room, then check the back patio and begin to lose my mind. I tell Cam I can’t find Bun-Bun but Elephantie would love a snuggle and he starts wailing. A few minutes later I tell him I can’t do anything about it, start arranging his sheets and find the coveted Bun-Bun.
  • Cam asks if we can snuggle, of course we can, and he nuzzles his head into my chin and continues burrowing until I’m hanging off the bed.

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Between my mental notes that “change gon’ come” and “how much longer do I have to balance my body on the edge of the bed?” I attempted to summon some gratitude. It was a good day, my crazy kids are healthy, there is a bottle of wine on the counter and I will too soon be handing my keys to my teenager, so I’d better suck it up and enjoy it for what it is.

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by Kelsey

No More Baba

We’ve been trying to eliminate Cam’s pacifier (his “baba”) for quite some time. Maybe a year and a half? My excuse for not making it happen sooner is because we didn’t want the battle, especially at night, when we already have so many sleeping issues. We had eliminated the baba for all things except napping and nighttime.

But Cam is almost 4 years old and we have had visions of him going to college with his special suitcase dedicated to his babas and so we told him that 4-year-olds don’t use babas.

Well this set-up (pairing his birthday with losing his baba) was giving him angst about his birthday, which should be a happy day. So I tried to unpair the two events and I proposed the following to him:

  • If you go 1 night without your baba (just as practice) you can spend 3 dollars on whatever you want at the dollar store… OR…
  • If you go 3 nights without your baba, you can get a giant rainbow lollipop

He said “okay” to the deal, handed me his baba and went to sleep on night 1 with no problems at all.

Then, when I asked him if he’s going to keep going, he said yes. He wanted the lollipop.

Each day he confirmed how many more days until he could get a lollipop and today… TODAY is the day. He earned his lollipop.

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And it was soooooo easy too. He just made the decision and stuck to it. Good job Cam-bone!

This is one milestone I will NOT be getting teary over.