Bedtime
After a long, long stretch of shitty bedtime habits we’re back to a somewhat normal going to bed routine. I don’t know what changed, or how it changed, but somehow Sam started acting like a reasonable human being at bedtime. For the last week or so after his bath, brushing teeth and a few stories I’ve been able to turn out the light, lay down with him for a few minutes, kiss him good night and leave. Usually when I start to climb over the gate in his doorway he’ll call for me and I’ll tell him where I’m going and to lie down and go to sleep. He’s complied every single night.
Sometimes I tell him I’m going to feed the cat. Other times I’ve told him I have to go fold laundry. One night I told him I was going downstairs to clean up the dinner dishes. Each night he’s just accepted it and gone to sleep. One night Bob put him to bed and didn’t have the same luck I did. Sam didn’t freak out, he just called for us quietly from the gate in his door. I went in to lay down with him for a few minutes and he was asleep in no time at all.
Tonight he was restless when I was cuddling with him. He was playing with his trains and talking. I told him that I had to go fold laundry. He said, “Oh. Okay.” I asked if I should go or if he wanted me to stay for a little while longer. He told me to go. I did, and he quietly fell asleep.
I don’t know what happened, what switch was turned. I don’t know how long it will last. All I know is that it almost makes up for his almost nightly 3 am wakeups.
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April 16th, 2008 at 10:22 pm
Oh, hang in there. We are still going through those ups and downs with a toddler.
I think it is hard for toddlers to wind down. Then, life throws all these curves at them with teething, sickness, and developmental milestones.
April 20th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
One thing that always worked for me (and still does- she’s 7)when my daughter was reluctant to let me go was to tell her that I’d be back to check on her in 5 (or 10, whatever number works) minutes. Sometimes she’d negotiate- I’d say 15, she’d say 10, we’d settle on 12.