Week Five: Sleep

Okay, last night Fiora got to sleep at 8:30, at least 1.5 hours past her ideal bedtime. She got up at 6am - half an hour to an hour earlier than she gets up when she gets to bed at 7pm. So, how has our day been? Well, it's been pretty good, but there has been a LOT of managing on our part, because any challenges cause significant meltdowns - we can TELL she's tired, even if she can't yet!

The good news? (there's lots of it).

Brian mentioned early this morning, after noticing her irritability, that we should make a roadmap for her bedtime tonight.... :) Dinner at 6pm, coming up! Chinese dumplings and miso soup (chinese new year is Feb 14th).

I got Mary Sheedy Kurcinka's book, Sleepless in America, and after just reading the introduction felt like I had a little more clarity, both for Fiora and me. Will report back any good tidbits.

When we got home from the library, Fiora forgot to take off her coat and boots. I let her walk on into the house, and started talking out loud about taking off my hat and scarf, and boots and coat...and she turned around, put down the paper she was carrying ("don't touch, mama!"), took off her coat, then sat down, undid the velcro on her boots (I've never seen her do that before), took off her boots and arranged them neatly next to mine (also somethign she's never done!). I was SO impressed. Wish I knew better what to say - I think I said "good job" or "thanks" or something, I could have just articulated exactly what she had accomplished...good thing to remember, next time!

When it was nap time first-attempt, fiora fussed - she wanted her "big bed" - fine. But then she wasn't lying down, so I told her she needed to lie down, and she "distracted" me (? often attempted before naps or bedtime) by saying she wanted the crib. I asked her if she wanted to climb into the crib (something she'd never done), and she got excited by that idea. So, I helped her climb in the crib and she lay down and let me put her blankets on. In my mind, though it took a LOT of management, I like the final results of lying down on her own without crying, so I'm calling it a success. (However, she urinated in her cloth diaper, and when I went to change it she was so perky I let her down - my bad, looking back I wish I'd given her another chance to sleep, the perkiness may have been her only way of keeping awake when tired...thank you, Kurcinka!)

When it was nap time second-attempt, she threw a FULL tantrum. I'd hoped to avoid it to some degree by (1) helping her know it was coming by letting her chose what she wanted to do before her nap - eat pasta; and (2) giving her that choice. That did not help, at least at this extremely tired state. She shrieked and screamed for many long minutes (tired girl! RARELY does this anymore) - finally I calmly went in to check on her, she was holding up a onesie that she had decided against putting on before naptime and asking for help putting it on. I helped her put it on, she asked for water. I got her water, and she lay down and let me put blankets on her and the tantrum was done. So, the nice thing was that the second part of the second attempt went smoothly...but obviously we want to be a lot more proactive about this.

more about sleep roadmap as we try to figure it out...we've worked on this one before, but we've kindof been learning information as we go...previous attempts have definitely had only partial success, and we're slipping backwards!