I'm sitting here watching an ABC news show about Science of Sleep for children / babies. There is the Ferber method (tough love) and then the more nurturing method which includes the baby sleeping in bed with you; a.k.a. the family bed. We never did the co-sleeping (family bed). In fact, neither one of the girls even stayed in our room for more than 4 weeks after they were born. But we weren't really strict either as far as the tough love. We couldn't handle the screaming and crying. Or should I say, Beau couldn't stand the screaming and crying. I didn't like it either but he always broke before I did. They end the segment of the show saying that no matter where you are, you are not alone for the quest for rest - makes you feel better, huh?
Luckily for us - the girls are at that stage where we don't have too much of a problem. Madi is harder to get to sleep but that's because they make them take naps at Pre-K. But even she isn't too hard to get to bed. And Emily - she only gets her pacifier when she's in bed so usually, she's THRILLED at the thought of going to sleep. She cuddles right up to her pillow with her blanket and monkey and shoves that pacifier right in her mouth and she's out like a light. Now - whenever we decide to get rid of that thing - Lord help us!
Our big issue right now is Terrible Twos. Even though she's not quite 2, she's already very willful. And she can't express herself like she really wants to. She wants you to hold her but she wants down. She wants you to carry her to this place and she tries to guide you by holding on to your shoulders but if you turn the wrong direction, your likely to get a good slap in the face. And Madi takes a lot of the abuse. If she's ever mad at anyone, she usually runs up to Madi and knocks her upside her head. What do you do for punishment? I can't stand the thought of spanking her. Can't keep her in timeout. But I guess if I was to follow the supernanny's advice, I could spend an hour putting her back in timeout but seriously - who has the time??!!! So usually I put her in timeout and go back and forth with her for a couple of minutes until I know that she knows she's in trouble. And I know she knows because she grabs my face and sweetly says "Hi mommy." And how can you put that back in timeout??? Madi was so easy to discipline. At least compared to Emily. But then I have the worst memory. Maybe she was just as bad. Haha. I don't know. She's still a lot of fun. Watching her learn and seeing her and Madi interact. It's so much fun. I love watching them follow each other around. Emily loves Madi so much. She's the first person she asks for when she wakes up. And Madi wakes up on the weekend and tries to pull Emily out of the crib - and has succeeded at least once before I made it in there. Those two girls are the best. I love them so much. And I'm so glad that they have each other.
I know this isn't a very interesting blog but I have to put this stuff somewhere because like I said, I have a horrible memory and I want to remember what I felt at this time in their lives.
1 comment:
I like reading your blog. I am either going through similar issues or about to with P-lady. I tried all of the above methods with her sleeping habits and we finally had to do tough love when I stopped nursing and got prego -she hit 12 months exactly. But 3-4 days later she was sleeping through the night, going to sleep alone and drinking whole milk out a sippy:) I guess its just what ever works!
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