Sleep, Glorious Sleep

I thought as the time went, that the child becomes easier in the sleep realm.  Makenna has always been a good sleeper and I've decided to praise God that I have a good sleeper rather than a good eater.  Although I stress over the latter, I definitely have fits on the former when my sleep is disturbed.

I didn't realize until marriage that I was a light sleeper and now throw a child in the mix and I swear that sleep is a fleeting fad.  But...I really have had it good...until recently.  For some unknown reason, and with the help of two little legs, my little one takes it upon herself to come to our room at all hours of the night.  Most trips are due to the blanket "falling off".  We have tried multiple attempts to show her that she is big enough to pull them back on but she insists that she can't.  In my fog I just go and put it back on her so we can end the misery and hopefully get back to sleep.  We have had a couple of instances where I swear I've heard her come in to the room but then heard nothing after.  With a little bit of looking we've found her laying down next to our bed, once on daddy's side, and once on mine.  Not sure if she was sleep-walking or just trying to get a little closer without disturbing us, but it's a bit freaky to find your child laying on the floor next to you not saying anything.

And again, I'm so very grateful that once potty-training kicked-in, that there have been no accidents at night (hear me knocking on wood as I type this).  What it does mean though, that at times, I have heard noises where she gets herself to the bathroom, which I'm elated about but still need to check-up on, or she decides that mommy & daddy's bathroom is the place to go.  In making this choice of our bathroom, all lights must come on, thus really throwing a wrench into my ability to sleep.

A couple of weeks ago she had to go "poo-poo" on one of her late night excursions, and promptly got herself up and went into her bathroom.  After waiting and hoping that Chris heard her rustling, I got up to investigate.  I then waited, and waited (keep adding the "waited" for a long time,) until I convinced her that maybe she didn't really have to go, and let's try in the morning when normal people are up to go.  She finally relented, and as I looked at the nice red mark around her legs from sitting so long, figured that she was probably going numb and that's what caused her to acquiesce. 

I don't think it was even an half-hour later when I heard the noise again, and the whole process started again.  I again was the one who took it upon myself (since my "better-half" was snoring away, or at least pretending to snore,) and went upstairs.  This time the wait was unbearable.  I laid my tired body in front of the bathroom door praying to God to give her relief, and thus me relief.  After about 20 minutes of being completely uncomfortable, I went downstairs in the living room, onto the recliner, where I could still monitor her via yelling.  I think we finally had success but really, I don't remember.

Why bring this all up after this time?  Well, it happened again last night.  I was the "lone" ranger as daddy is out of town, and I dragged myself out of bed when I heard the first feet hit the floor out of her bed, figuring it was a blanket catastrophe.  Worse, it was another "poo-poo" episode and I was in for the Anna Karenina unabridged version of waiting.  I was able to read the Cliff notes the first time in that I got her, after about 15 minutes, to realize it just wasn't going to happen and sleep was a better alternative.

But not even a half-hour later, at least in my mind it was that short but I really have no way of knowing as I refuse to look at clocks during these times as it makes me completely anxious, we were back to the potty situation but this time, I didn't hear her and she made it all the way to my room and proceeded to turn on all lights and sit on the potty for who knows how long but it was long!  I figured it was a better alternative to have her downstairs as I could yell at her from my bed when I would wake up out of my stupor every 10 minutes.  Plus add in some pleading to just wait until morning or praying again to God to end this misery for us both.  She finally went and a chorus of hallelujah went out from my lips.  But the dreaded, "No, I have more poo-poo's" ensued along another round of long waiting.  When it was finally all done, I did look at the clock and it was 4:15am.  Just my luck.  When we put her back into her bed, I could actually see that it was getting light out and my anxious tendencies kicked in.

I lay awake in bed thinking, "I should just get up and get things done."  I start running in my mind all the things that need to be done for the day, mostly morning routine stuff, but also extra stuff that I'd like to get done either in the morning or during the day.  I start slowly counting backwards from 100 and occasionally lose my place but realize and continue on.  That wasn't working.  I did finally fall asleep but prayed really hard that I would have patience come the morning as I knew me without sleep, enough sleep, goes two ways.  I'm either too tired to care (which ends up being a good thing) or I'm a cranky monster (not a good thing).  Well, it was mostly the latter, unfortunately for Makenna.  It wasn't as bad as it has been other mornings but we got through it.  Now if I can just get through the rest of my day and be too tired to care...then we're doing good!

Trip to RI – Part III – Beach

Makenna got her wish…we went to the Narragansett Beach. It was nicer in that it wasn’t as windy as it was the day before so I think that it was better that we waited a day to go.

She absolutely loved it! Unfortunately, it wasn’t that nice out that we could throw on bathing suits and go swimming. Although, it didn’t stop some crazy girls from sun bathing in bikini’s and going out! It was cold on my feet, I can’t imagine how cold it would be on anything above my ankles.

But it didn’t seem to bother Makenna either. She started out with just her feet but not realizing what a “tide” is, would wander out farther and then the tide would come in and get her. She just thought it was great though. She built a sand-castle, of sorts, with a plastic cup that I was smart enough to grab just before we left the house.

I was also really proud of myself for remembering to bring another pair of shoes, and an extra pair of socks to change her into when she was done. If I had only had brains enough to think about how she might get wet past her ankles then we would’ve been all set.

She enjoyed sitting on the wet sand to build her sand castles, look for rocks and shells. She was also a bit upset that I didn’t think to bring a pail and shovel like this other parent did but she got over it.

When it was time to go, we found a place to rinse off as best as we could and then got her to the car and stripped her down and put Chris’s sweatshirt over her for the ride back to the house.

We had to pack our stuff and head back to NY, but we enjoyed our short trip and the fun we had with family and seeing the joy in her face at the zoo and the beach was worth the trip!

Trip to RI – Part II – Party

On Saturday, we stuck around my Aunt & Uncle’s house to get ready for family and friends coming over to celebrate Richard’s belated birthday. Jessica (my sister-in-law) did have a friend come take her and her two little ones to the beach near by and let’s just say that Makenna had a massive fit. For over an hour she was just crying and screaming that she wanted to go to the beach. I felt bad but I wanted to stay and help with getting ready for the party and I figured we’d try and go the next day.

The party went well, my uncle was really surprised by some of the people my aunt had invited and the kids had fun playing with the sidewalk chalk.

There was one point where Makenna was really upset, yet again, and that was when a lot of the adults were playing volleyball and she couldn’t play. Let’s just say I had a huge fear of her getting run over by a lot of big people trying to get at a ball. So she sat over off to the side and pouted and would cry and look back to see if anyone was watching her and if we did give her attention, then she’d move farther away and cry louder. It finally ended when she got too close to the road and Chris went down and got her and got her busy watching a movie inside.

She was upset again later when adults started playing bocci ball and she wasn’t allowed to play that either. She kept saying, “I want to play pouch-ee ball.” Even the next day she talked about it.

I had to include this cute picture of my sister-in-law, Makenna, and my newest niece Abigail.

Trip to RI – Part I – Providence Zoo

Last week we took a quick trip up to RI to visit my aunt and uncle. We had a car full as we had myself, Chris, Makenna, my Sister-in-Law Jessica with her two little ones, Eli (just over 2 years old) and Abigail (just around 2 months old)

The trip up was fairly uneventful-Thank goodness. We got there and surprised my uncle who did not know we were coming to help him celebrate his birthday (belated). On Friday we took the kids to the Providence Zoo. As it’s still early in the season, there were not many people.

What I really enjoyed was watching Makenna being our tour guide. She took my Sister-in-Law’s backpack (which was the kind that slings across you) and put the zoo map in the side pocket. We would get to an area of the zoo, look at the animal for all of about 10 seconds, and Makenna would whip out the map and say, what’s next? Then I’d tell her what we were going to see next, and she’d put the map back in the pocket and try and get us all to move along.

This is an actual bald eagle that they have in captivity

The kids loved these seals the most. We were able to watch them from the water tank and they’d come right up and rub up close next to the kids and they would just laugh and laugh.

All and all we had a fun day!

Calm Down Teri!

It's been two and a half weeks since I heard this curse come out of my child's mouth at me. I was taken off guard but quite heartily amused at the same time.

The mornings during the week are me running around getting everything ready for the day that I didn't previously get ready the night before - which is mainly a child that loves to "dawdle" as I put it. She'll grab books as I'm trying to get her dressed, or some toy, or just walk off. I get frustrated and start demanding that she come back and focus on the task - whether it's getting dressed, eating, brushing her teeth, brushing her hair, or putting on her shoes or coat. It's usually a lot of me trying to not scream at the top of my lungs to just get the job finished and then she can go off and look at books, or play with toys or whatever.

Then the stress starts all over again as we head for the car. There's bugs to look at, rocks to throw, grass to run in...you name it...it's just not walking directly to the car to get in, which is what I'd like to have happen.

So back on Wednesday, May 5th, we are out the door, heading towards the car and she's off in the yard somewhere. I firmly state, "Makenna, let's go! - Get to the Car please!" She firmly replies, "Calm Down Teri!"

If I could only convey tone in a blog. Instead I have to try and describe it for you. It was in a disgusted, tired tone as if it was a teenage daughter sighing at her pathetic mother who is a nag and a pain in her butt.

All I could do was laugh. I did tell her, "You're right Makenna, I do need to calm down, but that doesn't change the fact that I need you to get in the car...now!"

The problem is, I find this story so funny, I've about told everyone and most of the time, Makenna is around. So she's now repeated it a few more times. It wasn't as funny as the first time as the tone hasn't been the same but now it's my fault for "praising" her by telling so many others. Plus, I have to be consistent in telling her to call me mom and not Teri.

Of course, there are other little comments that have come out at different times. Such as, tonight she told daddy that something was not appro-pre-lit (appropriate). She'll also tell us when we "fro-got" to do something ("Oh mom, you fro-got to get me my bunny"). On occasion she'll also add "sweetie" or "honey" to her sentences when she talks to us (Oh sweetie, I need ten more minutes to sleep" or "Honey, can you get this for me?). Another favorite of mine is, "Okay I'm coming..." - then she's a no-show. I'm usually replying, "If you were coming, then you'd be here by now."

She's also telling us that "she's the boss." Well, it certainly seems like it at times, but we are trying hard to maintain the semblance that we are.

Of course, there are the sweet nice comments at times too. I love to hear, "okay mom" and then the immediate response of her picking up something or doing what I've asked. Or her saying, "sure" in a happy-go-lucky tone. But my favorite is an "I love you mommy" that comes out of the blue. That's the type of comment that makes me calm down.

Say Cheese!~

What a beautiful, sunny warm day. We started out great and ended up miserable.

I took Makenna to swim lessons and asked her if she wanted one float or two. She agreed to one, so I strapped it on her and then told her teacher that she wants to try one float, but to keep an eye on her and if she felt it was too much for Makenna, to switch her back to two.

I went out in the waiting area, watched Makenna jump in, and then watched as one of the lifeguards rushed over to make sure she came back up. They immediately switched her back to two floats. Oh well, at least we tried.

After swimming we went to the park and met up with her cousins - Eli, Katie, Natalie, and Abagail. She enjoyed her usual climbing and went down the slide...once. It was too hot. Then rest of the time was mostly spent on the swings.

We left there and on the way to lunch I had given Makenna the case for the camera. I thought that the camera was in my back pocket still until I heard, "hey, the camera!" I was like, 'What?!" But I figured, no big deal, she won't be able to turn it on. All of a sudden I heard a ding noise indicating the camera was now on. I started laughing at her persistence and ingenuity in getting the camera on. Then I said, to myself, well, she won't be able to take a picture...WRONG. She was able to take two pictures - not bad really. From the back seat of the car I kept hearing her say, "Say Cheese mommy!"

I wanted to add this other picture that she took later at home after I told Chris about her craftiness.
So where did it start to go down hill? Well, no nap quickly turns into misery. She fell asleep on the way home from lunch but as soon as I put her down, she gets back up and says she's done with nap. This is truly unfortunate as I'm worn out and need a nap, Chris who has worked on the yard all day, is tired and goes and takes a nap. Plus, she woke up early (6:30 am). I once heard from a mommy podcast that there's an inverse relationship in putting kids to bed. The earlier you put them to bed they actually sleep longer. Then if you put them to bed late, like we did last night, they get up earlier...she proved this to be true.

I finally told her, after commanding her to go back to bed, that if she got up, then she'd have to go to bed early. That's where the misery really hit...later, when it was time to go to bed. I tried explaining to her the reason she was so miserable was due to lack of sleep. She didn't buy it. We did our usual bedtime routine, with a lot of fighting, but eventually we won out. Chris read her a story and she fell asleep while he read it to her. That's a first!

Today was also a day of bumps and bruises. At the park she flipped of the swing backwards and her back is a bit scraped. Then later we were outside taking a walk and having her ride her tricycle (or trying to get her to ride it,) and she got off, ran ahead and, Splat--right out on the gravely driveway. Two scraped up knees. The best part for her - she was able to get two plasters (band-aids) that have kitty's on them.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be just as nice, just as filled with fun, but less bruises and no fights at bedtime.

Literacy Day

Today at the ECC (Early Childhood Center) where Makenna goes for school, they had literacy day. It was based on Curious George and they even had someone dressed up as Curious George and another staff member dressed as the Man in the Yellow Hat.

Makenna really enjoyed seeing Curious George and kept saying, "Hi Curious George" and she also got a chance to high-five and hug him. Then she said I had to do that too, so I did. What was coincidental was that all this week, Makenna wanted to watch Curious George movie (over and over).

The bad news was that at some point her happiness switched to misery. I had taken off work today so I could enjoy this day with her, and at some point it was as if she knew it was getting close to the time for me to go. She just sprawled out on the floor screaming while I was trying to get her to join in the singing and dancing portion. So I took her out for a time out and to calm her down.

That's when the whole, "I don't feel well" started. It drives me crazy that she tries to use this excuse to get out of things. I just see a long road ahead paved with this excuse. I tried to explain to her that she was "fibbing/lying" and that if she didn't want to do something, she had to say that, and not tell me she wasn't feeling well. That didn't work...I have to remember she's three and a half, not ten. Again, how do you explain lying to a child of her age?

I, as usual, told her that if she didn't feel well, that she wasn't going to have her movies, TV or go outside. She said she just wanted to go to bed. I guess my bargaining chip is waning and I'll have to come up with something new.

I did eventually leave and they told me later that she was okay shortly after. I unfortunately forgot to bring my camera....rats!