It came. The day I was dreading.
The day that the two year old started to drop her naps.
To be fair, she still naps most days, but oy, she makes a big, fat, hairy deal about it. Or she makes a big, fat, hairy deal about bedtime later. So I'm left treading the precarious balance between getting her to take a nap, but not a long nap, and then, making sure that she runs enough energy off to snuggle down easily for bedtime later.
It doesn't help that she is FULLY her mother's daughter in the lack of sleep = complete crankiness department. So skipping naps, while easier in the short term, is most certainly not easy at 6pm. (Her sister has my genes in the lack of food = complete crankiness department... what can I say? I like to sleep. And eat).
Sometime around 4 am, she's also been having bad dreams. So she sounds hysterical, one of us runs to get her, and generally, she snuggles in between us and crashes again. (I really don't mind... she's VERY warm and VERY still, unlike her spider monkey sister who ends up with her toes in my ears on the rare occasions she ends up in our room).
So yes, the child is a sleeping mystery lately.
Two nights ago, I was trying rather unsuccessfully to convince her that she was NOT coming into my bed at bedtime like she demanded to do and that she was going to lie down under her blankets, snuggle her night-nights, and go. to. sleep.
She wasn't buying it. There was much weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Shaun and I alternated to see what we could do to get the kid to calm down, (and conversely, quiet down enough to let her sister fall asleep), and finally I started asking questions. The first one I asked proved to start a rather interesting conversation,
"Caly, honey... what's the matter?"
"I had a bad dream, Mama... a bad dream!" Nevermind that she hadn't actually fallen asleep yet... I was on to her but I figured I'd let her finish...
"Alright kiddo... well, tell me about it. What was the dream about?"
She sniffled, looked up, and flatly said, "You."
Um, excuse me?! I know I can get scary when I don't have my dinner, but geez, I'm not THAT scary!
"Um, Caly? Me?"
"Yup."
WHAT THE HECK DO I SAY TO THAT, PEOPLE!?
I chose complete avoidance.
"Oooook. So, um, let's talk about some good things to dream about... What do you think?"
She thought for a second, and then... "I think... I think that I could maybe dream about... froggies. And you, and Daddy and Lexi and Sayer."
So there you have it... I can be scary enough for a fake bad dream... but I come in as a very close second behind froggies as the top good dream, too. I'll take it. I think.
(And it's worth noting? Right after that, she rolled over and went to sleep without a peep).
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rollingthroughlooneyville@gmail.com
Me - The Circus Master
rollingthroughlooneyville@gmail.com
Shaun - The Biggest Kid
Lex - 6!
Caly - Racing towards 4
Sayer - 2 and half!
Zoen - 11 months and WAY too big
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I can so relate to the 2 year old sleep issues lately! Mine is a total bear when she doesn't nap, but she also fights bedtime if she does nap. She has been having her nightmares at around 5am and comes to snuggle between us. This morning she quietly eased into the bed, put her special pillow on top of our pillows, and her baby beside her...pulled the cover up over both herself and the baby. Then, not so quietly, she said, "We have to say our prayers!" and a little louder, "Dear God, Bless Mommy & Daddy & Gmail & Samoo & Spike & Pouty & all the people that love us. God let us sleep in Mommy's bed, and God, PLEASE let Mommy's girls be good today. AAAAAAAAMMMMEEEEEENNNNN!!!!" How can you not laugh at that? Even at 530am? :)
ReplyDeleteI am not sure if this will work for her or not (she might not be old enough to really get it) but we told MJ to pray about it. For a long time he was having nightmares every night and ending up in our bed. I have a very hard time sleeping with a kid in the bed and needless to say lack of sleep was starting to take its toll. So one night as we were puttin the kids in bed i told MJ he should ask God to take his bad dreams away and only give him good dreams. We had a bit of a Madea moment (incase you havent seen it Madea's Family Reunion) when he ask me how to pray (never knew how hard it was to explain to a child how to pray). I explained the best i could and then tucked him in. The next morning i ask him if he had any bad dreams and he said no. I ask if he prayed and he said yes. That was almost a year ago and he hasnt had a bad dream since. Great way to incorperate faith with a cure for a bad dream.
ReplyDeleteWe must be related in the lack of sleep and/or lack of food equalling crankiness! It's like a switch goes off!
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, you don't know if you were the scary part of her fake dream or if it was that something happened to you and she was (fake) scared because she loves you sooo much! (B says I have a gift of finding the silver lining in anything!)
Hannah has been freaking out at bedtime lately. Why? Because I won't sleep in her bed with her. Mind you, I've NEVER slept in her bed with her, but she has started asking and then reacting like I've taken away some special privilege. ARGHH!!
ReplyDeletehahahahahaaa....
ReplyDelete