Sleep Cometh for Those Who Wait!

Last week, we started something new with Benny's schedule. We decided to cut out naps and put him to bed earlier. If you follow my blog, you know the challenges we've been having with getting him to sleep at a normal time. Or at all, for that matter. I was scared to give up his nap time, because, aside from him needing the sleep, I needed the peace and quiet, and sometimes, even sleep! I replaced his nap with down time, we sit and play a game or we cuddle on the couch and watch a movie. But I talk to him through out to make sure he is not falling asleep! 

He eats dinner at 6, bath afterward, pjs/brushing teeth/brushing hair, and he usually has a couple extra minutes to do a quick clean up before getting into bed at 7. We sing shema, turn out the lights, put on some music for him. When we are diligent in keeping things on time, he is asleep by 7:15. I have become neurotic about making sure we are never out later than 5:30. If we miss the 7 o'clock mark, it takes him longer and without downtime for myself during the day, I can't deal with that! 

Now, this does turn him into quite the kvetch for the last bit of his day, but that is a sacrifice I am willing to make. In exchange for him going to sleep so nicely, I try very hard to have extra patience at the end of the day!

The best part of this is that it doesn't really make him wake up much earlier in the morning. He still gets up somewhere around 7 or 7:30, some days I get lucky and he waits until 8! The good news is that he has no problem hanging out in bed with me for a bit. Until he starts demanding food. Then I have no choice but to get up and start the day. That doesn't mean he has stopped waking up in middle of the night, but those incidents are becoming more rare and easier to deal with as well!

He doesn't even argue anymore about going into bed. Tonight, I told him to run to bed as I was straightening up his bathroom. I found him tucked in, snuggling with his bear, waiting for me nicely. I didn't have to get into bed with him. I stood there, sang shema, gave him a kiss and away I went. Did not hear a peep of protest. My little boy is really growing up! 

Just Some Thoughts

With this pregnancy, I honestly couldn't tell you what week I'm up to. With Benny's I probably could have told you the day and how many were left. I find that interesting. I constantly find myself counting back from my due date to figure out how far along I am when people ask me. At this point, I just say, "Oh I'm due in April."

And now for my standard updates.

Potty training has taken a new turn. The only door left open at home is Benny's bathroom, and he makes use of it on his own! I still remind him when it seems like it's been forever, but more or less, he goes and pees on his own. I'm not ready to talk about his poop yet. All I can say is when it gets too quiet, he's probably pooping somewhere. And I can basically guarantee that somewhere does not happen to be the toilet. And he's not wearing underwear. And our apartment is all carpeting (except for the kitchen and bathrooms). Makes for fun times!

Bedtime has been going pretty smoothly too! I had to restock our prize box today! Thank goodness for holiday clearances! Picked up some great little toys for about fifty cents each, he was super excited to see the new things in there!

We also finally got him a real pair of snow gloves. Tomorrow, Shuky only has one class and it is in the afternoon. Benny requested his prize for bedtime be playing in the snow with Shuky in the morning. He's so excited!! I hope the weather allows it!

Don't forget to get those last minute votes in for my brother, good people!! The contest closes on January 16th and I want to book my tickets for his concert already! :)

And now I will be calling it an early night. Beyond exhausted. Good night to all of you!

No RSVP

There's a party going on in my belly and I wasn't invited!!! This little baby is SUPER active!! All day and night, there's loud music, dancing, and fun stuff going on in there!! :)

In other news, Benny is doing great with the toilet (I feel like that should be whispered).

Shuky went back to school today. Benny was very sad when he realized what was going on. He saw Shuky getting ready to leave and asked him where he was going. When Shuky told him he was going to school, Benny responded with, "Oh my chinny chin chin! You can't go to school Tatty!" This kid really comes up with the funniest things! Needless to say, I jumped out of bed (yes, I was trying to pretend morning had not yet come still) and started something fun so the kid wouldn't be devastated.

Back to toilet news, we've been having him running around naked, a lot less accidents happening that way. We'll have to deal with the underwear transition when he seems ready. I guess the training pants were just too close to diapers! This morning, he was sitting on the toilet and he hand-called me. This was the message he left for me, "Hi Mommy! It's just Benny! I on the toilet but I don't need to make pishies! Ok. Bye."

We've been trying something new with bedtime as well. We get him ready for bed and give him kisses and hugs and ask him to go to bed on his own. Completely. Like, leave the couch and go to bed. If he manages to go to sleep on his own without one of us getting into bed with him, he gets a prize in the morning. So far, out of two nights, he got one prize. I won't mention that it took him over two hours to actually fall asleep. We'll just focus on the fact that he did it on his own. Last night, however, was a mess. Screaming, no make that shrieking, for two hours straight. I finally crawled into bed with him and he was asleep within five minutes tops! I felt bad that I caved but I couldn't handle the screaming anymore. And I knew the morning brought the first day of the semester so I felt bad for all the students in the building that needed to be hearing his insanity. Let's hope for better strength tonight!

Going to go enjoy the sight of the snow from the warmth of my couch!

Toilet Woes & Bedtime Sorrows

Potty training is going dismally slow.
Bedtime is absolutely painful.

I can understand the toilet issues he's having, he's just barely two. But night-time should be much smoother at this point! There are many things I can try to blame this on, but we all know the 'If and Then' games lead nowhere. Facts are facts. Benny does not go to sleep on his own. Sometimes he really fights it and it takes him anywhere from an hour to two. Sometimes he just goes to sleep nicely, with one of us in his bed. Not often, not the nicely part anyway. One of us always has to be in bed with him, putting him to sleep. Tonight, I actually tried bribing him to go to sleep on his own. Put a nice new train next to his bed (out of his reach but within sight) and told him he would get to have it in the morning if he went to sleep by himself. At first he was very excited. Once he realized I intended to leave the room he said, "Umm, no thank you Mommy!" So I put him to sleep and his prize went back in the prize box.

Speaking of prize box, the longer it takes to get him potty trained, the more that box is going to keep costing. I'm not complaining, necessarily, just stating facts again. For #1, he gets a little treat, usually stickers that go into a fun sticker book he has. Sometimes little chocolates. #2, though, now that is a whole other story! This prize box is full of different Thomas trains (Benny got the Take-Along set from his Bobbe last summer), and a nice variety of Hotwheels and Matchbox cars. The good news is, we usually find the trains for cheaper at stores like TJ Maxx. The cars usually come in variety packs so we get those.

Anyway, just venting, I guess. Things will go the way they are supposed to, I'm not too worried. In general, he's a great kid and we have so much to be thankful for!

And right now I will go enjoy my treat I got earlier - I rented The Last Song. :)