Friday, July 14, 2006
Stalling
Those of you with toddlers, raise your hands.
Do they stall at bedtime? Do they find anything, and everything, to keep you from getting their little hiney's into the bed?
If so, you are not alone.
DD has always been so good at going to bed when I tell her it is time to go nite-nite. Heck, sometimes she would even tell me it was time for nite-nite. I used to brag at how easy it was for me to get her to bed. Someone should have slapped me, bacause now it takes a nightly miracle to get her willingly into bed. Something has possessed my sweet child and has taken over!
Several months ago it was as simple as wanting a cup. DD has never went to bed with a bottle/cup but I could accomodate her. She gets thirtsy...fine. She then progressed to waking up in the middle of the night for her cup. While it makes Mommy here crazy ok. (That is a whole other blog topic in itself). Then it was after her book, she had to kiss the kitty and her rocking horse. Ok, it's mildly entertaining and only takes a few minutes.
Now bedtime consists of:
Do they stall at bedtime? Do they find anything, and everything, to keep you from getting their little hiney's into the bed?
If so, you are not alone.
DD has always been so good at going to bed when I tell her it is time to go nite-nite. Heck, sometimes she would even tell me it was time for nite-nite. I used to brag at how easy it was for me to get her to bed. Someone should have slapped me, bacause now it takes a nightly miracle to get her willingly into bed. Something has possessed my sweet child and has taken over!
Several months ago it was as simple as wanting a cup. DD has never went to bed with a bottle/cup but I could accomodate her. She gets thirtsy...fine. She then progressed to waking up in the middle of the night for her cup. While it makes Mommy here crazy ok. (That is a whole other blog topic in itself). Then it was after her book, she had to kiss the kitty and her rocking horse. Ok, it's mildly entertaining and only takes a few minutes.
Now bedtime consists of:
- Eating 2.5 crackers
- Reading 2 books
- Saying nite nite and kissing the cat, rocking horse, and any other object she feels is important that evening.
- Turning on the light to make sure that cat (that she just kissed in the living room) is not lurking under the bed
- Saying prayers, getting hugs and kisses, hi-fives and smoochy faces to Mommy.
- Wanting to read another book.
- Wanting to read same book in the dark.
- Wanting a drink from cup on night stand.
- More kisses and hi-fives
It takes me at least 20 minutes to get her in the bed and settled enough that I can get a shower and go to bed myself. If I skip any of the above, it ends in her screaming. The end result is she is freaking out and DS is now awake too. I know I need to put my foot down and just make her got to bed without all the hoopla. I am a sucker and she knows it.
Any ideas or suggestions? What has your toddler been doing/done that drives you running straight for the looney bin?
Can I please have my sweet, sleep-loving little girl back please?
5 Comments:
Duuuuude. I have the king and two queens of stallers. With the oldest, she forgets that she didn't go to the bathroom. Then she has to get a drink. Then the middle has to follow the oldest everywhere. Then the youngest has to have three songs sung to her at night (Godspeed, Jesus Loves Me, and the ABCs). It is INSANE sometimes. Not that I took great joy in your post, I took great joy in the fact that I am not alone.
You're not kidding... lately my 3 year old has decided he needs 3 songs not 1, 2 books, and then he wants me to tuck him in while singing and then tuck again after I'm done "to make sure he won't fall out". Then we have to hear a story from daddy while mommy stands there, and then 3 kisses and hugs from each of us. It takes about 30 minutes to put him to bed now, whereas it used to take us only 5 minutes! Oh, how they grow up and learn, lol.
ARGH!! Not only does he do all that stuff, but he doesn't stay on his bed (of course because it is a mattress on the floor) or in his room. Now with his teething, he's been sleeping with us, or not sleeping at all is more like it. What a nightmare, I'll have to write a response to all this on my blog and trackback to you ;).
Hmmm...Let's see.
My daughter (3) wants to hug every balloon we have that is still floating.
She suddenly wants to eat dinner again.
She has to go potty / poop again. Whips out a paper and sits there looking at pictures while parking her rear end on the toilet. **I gotta stop letting her come in the bathroom while I am in there lol **
She plain wants to know what we are doing...
Suddenly scared of a shadow.
SHe is missing one of her 5 - 10 things she ends up in bed with. How she even KNOWS what is what, I don't know, but suddenly she knows she is missing something, like the bottle for her baby. Which of course she hid earlier, so we have to hunt for it....
And of course her newest thing...
5 more minutes...
Just 5 more minutes mommy...daddy...5 more minutes....
Let's just hope it's a phase...my almost 3 year old goes to bed fine with 2 books, but then continually calls for me "Mommmmyyyyy, I need to go pee" or "MOOOOMMMMYYYY, I need my Care Bear" which she has thrown across the room and can't find it.
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