Week Five: and MORE on bedtime roadmap

Yeah, I know, too much information for anyone but me! But I find it helpful to write down the jumble of ideas and observations and info I'm reading, so here I am.

From Sleepless in America:
- Sounds like Fiora has trouble with transitions. Indeed, it's when a suggestion to change is made that she freaks out. Or when we try to take something from her that she's proud of having found and is using well.
- For kids with trouble with transitions, it can help to do bedtime routine in the bedroom.
--- so...I like the idea of trying book-reading in her bedroom. She has her toddler bed in there, so we could sit on that to read. And then say it's time for bed, have her turn off her own light (she likes that), maybe travel out into the rest of the house to say goodnight (that may be asking for trouble though, maybe better to say goodnight and then go read book before lights out? Not sure, will have to experiment with this).

From observation:
- Reading gets her really excited. It does NOT seem to slow her down. Granted, at the end of the day she rarely wants to listen to US read, she wants to read HERSELF.
--- so...could tell her that at night it's time for parent to read books... (ha!)
--- or...could stop using reading at bedtime. I like the idea of coming home and doing some exercise! That's something she enjoys, but doesn't fight about stopping usually, and it doesn't seem to get her wired up.... I imagine there would be some resistance to going from exercise to PJ's, but maybe we could dance a little, then brush teeth, get PJ's and go read a book....okay, so I STILL Haven't eliminated the book, and perhaps I should. Then, we would get PJ's on, brush teeth, and dance a little.

Today:
Well, it was rocky today. Our dog attacked our cat while we were away (it makes me sick to say this). He's been pretty good lately, even resisting when the dog gate was left open twice. Despite trying to increase awareness about the dog gate, it was left open again, and the claw marks on his face and the hair loss on the cat attest to it. So...when I came home all fired up to get Fi to bed by 7 or 7:15, well, I got distracted. Still...knew she got dinner tonight at daycare...offered her applesauce as an at-home snack with mama...she was terrifically proud of opening it herself, but ate only a few spoonfuls, so near-bedtime-hunger may not be much of an issue to take care of (INFO GATHERED)...told her it was time for PJ's (much wailing - hey, wait, did I invite her to put on PJ's? Gads, no! Must try that...thanks, blog!), caught wailing child, she told me she had "big poop (thank you, child! And I did, too), changed to bedtime diaper, invited her to put on PJ's (she wanted a shirt, NOT PJ's, much wailing)...told her it was time to brush teeth (happy child)...checked on cat, came back to messy bathroom and child reading book...told child we had to clean up the bathroom first (much wailing, short wrestling match with child during which I realized she felt she had a right to the book, apologized to child about not stating rules more clearly ahead of time, said that next time we would need to clean up afterwards before books, went and cleaned up bathroom)...had child say "okay, mama" several minutes later and go to clean up bathroom (MAN, mama, GIVE HER SPACE! She's amazing!), took rag down so she could put it up to dry...went to read book with her (4 times, she read it), gave her option to go to bed in the middle of the book or the end (she choose to read it again), told her that time was the last time....after she finished it, said it was bedtime (much wailing), picked her up...said goodnight to baba, dogs (while she cried about how she didn't want to go to bed and wouldn't let go of book, and needed apple juice)...took her to bedroom, she choose her crib...talked to her a little about sleep, can't remember now but it felt good and non-lecture-like, she responded predictably to dark room by putting head on my shoulder, sang her a verse of her lullaby, and put her down to sleep...she started crying about wanting this or that, told her goodnight, shut door, child asleep (she goes to sleep really well generally when the room is dark and after we leave).

Final assessment: not impressed. The transitions are no easier yet. I like talking to her about sleep, though. I feel like I need to make it clearer (to both her and myself) what our routine is - not any number of books, just "x" number, and how many read-throughs, and who reads them?

I'm not sure, and I'll make a choice anyway for tomorrow:
1 - dance some around 6 tomorrow, or after dinner anyway! (try this for a week)
2 - read books in her bedroom tomorrow (try this for a week)
3 - pick TWO books to read, one for mama to read and one for Fiora to read (try this for a week, though who reads could change)

At the end of the week, consider no books for bedtime routine, or make a sleepytime bookshelf with bedtime books she can choose from. I can tell we'll be experimenting for a while...!!