Kids who still won’t sleep.
Last night, Abs had another ‘episode.’
It was bedtime. Neither of the girls wanted to go to bed, though it was later than usual. The same routine…we put them in bed. Abs gets up and runs around. M laughs. Abs continues to run and yell. Then the inevitable cry of, “Mom, Abby’s on my bed!” Abs laughs. Repeat. Over and over and over.
We try to be consistent. One of us walks upstairs, picks her up, puts her back in bed. We leave the room. She gets up and yells, cries, climbs into M’s bed.
Joe (who never loses his cool) has had enough. He picked her up and placed her in the changing table until she calmed down.
“Daddy, let me down! No touch me!”
“Do you want to get down?”
“Yes. Put me DOWN!
“If I put you down, are you going to go to bed?”
“No!”
“Ok, you’ll stay here.”
And he waited. I took M into the playroom to snuggle while Abs screamed like a banshee, (“I want to snuggle with Mommy!” – because mommy is the weak link) for what felt like hours (it was for at least a full hour…she was hoarse from the yelling.) Joe came into get M and tried to make light of it.
“M, your sister sure is crazy, isn’t she? Should we trade her for a puppy?”
“No, Daddy. I like Abs.”
“How about for 2 puppies?”
“No, Daddy. Well…how about 10 puppies?”
We brought M back to bed, and they were settling in. Before we left, M asked,
“Daddy?”
“Yes, Peanut.”
“What about the 10 puppies?”
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Posted by LZ on July 13, 2010
Filed under: The Monsters, When I stink at my job
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July 13, 2010
Twitter: janatude
I feel for you. So far, my kids aren’t bad with sleeping. (My daughter does still wake up occasionally at night, but I suppose that’s normal. I’m speaking here after a night of good sleep, which is rare, so I may be on some kind of high.) People NEED sleep! I don’t know how you can make it without. And if you have a kid who just refuses? That’s hard. I hope you can find some way to combat this. (Have you read Weissbluth’s book? I have found it really, really helpful for baby-sleeping issues, but it goes into toddlerhood.)
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July 13, 2010
Ahh the joys of parenthood! And M is too funny!!!
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July 13, 2010
Twitter: azlb
Wow sounds like a rough night. Maybe naps for all today.
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July 13, 2010
Twitter: HaBryerton
Oh my good gracious. I have been mulling this same kind of post in my head for almost a month now. Though I haven’t really been able to come up with the words to describe what it’s like to have a nightly 45 minute scream fest with my daughter.
Bedtime has been sheer hell. I don’t know if it’s her age, the moon, the weather or just because. But, I do know, that we have just started to walk away. After a while it is just to damn hard to try to figure out another one of my daughters crazy demands and I know that my husband and I must sounds like complete fools standing there trying to reason with a almost 3 year old as she rolling around in her crib like a caged animal. Does it really matter that my arms were not just so when I gave you a hug? Does it really matter that Daddy walked out the bedroom door before Mommy? Apparently it does, because, all hell breaks loose. And, so, last week and this week, when she starts to wind up, we plant a kiss on her forehead, tell her we love her very much and walk away. What else can we do. You know?
Granted, I am not a huge fan of listening to her scream herself to sleep, but, well, it’s pushing 9pm and mommy would like some down time. I’ve worked an 8 hour day, commuted 30 minutes to pick her up, rushed home, made dinner, tried to get in some quality time, and spent almost 90 minutes on a bed time routine. Enough already.
I guess in that regards I am lucky that I only have one child – and I can do this. Can put her to bed and let her scream till her heart is content. I can just turn the TV up louder or sit outside on the deck and completely ignore it. And, I think I would for sure lose my mind if I had one child making it hard for the other child to settle down and go to sleep. Yikes!
HaB´s last blog ..Can We MommyCan We
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July 13, 2010
Twitter: CoffeesCommutes
Good for you for finding the humour in the situation, because I think I’d pull my hair out and run screaming. I can only imagine your frustration.
Christine LaRocque´s last blog ..Wistful
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July 13, 2010
At least M has her priorities straight, eh? Just kidding. I’m sorry that this is such a nightly routine.
Sues2u2´s last blog ..Dear Jack…
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July 13, 2010
Oh my gosh, I just wrote the longest comment ever and lost it! Yikes. Basically my boys go to bed at a decent time, like 9:30 in the summer. However if my oldest son happens to nap during the day (rarely happens) then it’s a super dooper late bedtime, like last night – midnight. I was so tired! But, what are you going to do, right? He was NOT tired at all.
I guess we’ll get a good, solid night’s sleep.. eventually?
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July 13, 2010
Oh, that made me tired just reading about it. You are fabulous parents (even you, weak link) for still laughing and staying consistent. And for the upcoming ten puppies.
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July 13, 2010
Twitter: BOREDmommy
I hate those bedtimes, when they won’t cooperate. I will admit that I’m lucky that both of them are pretty good at bedtime about 90% of the time, but its those 10% times that drive you totally freakin’ nuts!!
I feel your pain, just not as often as you.
Maria @BOREDmommy´s last blog ..Things I never thought I would say as a Mother
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July 13, 2010
Twitter: twinglesmama
I feel your pain. My little guy is 6 and still doesn’t stay in his bed. Granted he has graduated from bedtime games to going to bed fine; but, waking in the night to climb into bed with hubby and me.
I wonder if I could trade him in for 10 puppies
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July 16, 2010
I feel your pain too. My two-year-old son is a horrible sleeper. He wakes up (still) at least four times every night. For no reason. If you breathe too loud, he wakes up. He used to be good about going down at least (back in the ba-ba days), but lately it is taking a mom-dad tag team effort somewhere in the neighborhood of 2 hours to finally get him to sleep. I’m kind of looking forward to the teenage years right now.
Kate Hayes´s last blog ..Embracing My Outer Blogger
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LZ replied:
July 16th, 2010
Yep – I feel bad wishing away this time, but 18 is sounding great right about now…;-)
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July 22, 2010
Our vacation screwed us on the kid’s sleeping! The baby reverted to newborn stage on our trip and was up at least 4 times each night. I will add you to the list when I beg for sleep from above!
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