Educating*

[franceslievens]

So, some two weeks ago the clocks got changed to Summer time. A couple of days before that LB decided it was finally time to get really ill for once, and was shipped off to my parents in Hometown for a couple of days. She was her charming, but tired and ill self while spending time in the countryside. In return we got a little monster that refused to sleep when it was her bedtime. First there are the noes as answer to whatever we ask of her (except when she's offered an Easter egg). Then comes the kicking and screaming. One night she'd been yelling and crying for over an hour. I started to miss my sweet little girl who went to bed so easy. One upside on the whole thing: she sleeps in the next morning.

But look, after almost two weeks of struggling things start to improve. We don't tell her she has to go to bed, to suddenly change that task into brushing her teeth. It's first brushing her teeth and then off to bed. Her screams subsided and she just babbled and played in her bed for an hour or two. After that we'd find her fast asleep, with her sleeping bag somewhere on the other side of her bed.
Usually she'd fall asleep when it started to get dark outside – what convinced me she was just struggling with Summer time and a bedroom where it was still rather light all of a sudden. One night she declared "Lights on! Lights on!" Taken into consideration she gets her antonyms mixed up, it was quite obvious what she wanted to say: "It's too light for me to be able to sleep."

And look: today she fell asleep within half an hour of lying down, her sleeping bag still on. She must have been knackered from the little outing to the park, and we ended the day with some quality family time on the couch, in front of the television. Cuddles with the three of us, is something she usually misses out on on weekdays. And we put her to bed 15 to 20 minutes later than we've been doing till recently. The actual time she's in her bed is the same anyway. Luckily I've got two weeks off from school now, so she can sleep in as long as she wants. And tomorrow we'll go clothes shopping for all of us. LB is turning into such a girl: she loves to put on new clothes, especially when they're in bright colours.

Next educating problem to tackle: the potty.

* I have missed a good portion of April. For the most part it was caused by lingering fatigue from last week's project, but also trying to educate a whiny toddler in the ways of life.

Comments

[sister-luck.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Bedtime.

Something we completely fail at as parents. We like that he sleeps in, so we've been slack about sending him to bed early. On the other hand, more grown-up alone would be nice, too.

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

Oh, I don't think that means you fail as parents! Your Little Man simply lives on a different schedule. As long as he's got a schedule and gets enough sleep, it's okay. With LB we try to get her to bed around the same time every day, because she has to get up earlier on school days, and is very tired from daycare. If I get her to bed later on holidays, I fear she won't get used to the daycare schedule. And if she very tired, putting her to bed later, only makes matters worse, as in she'll play and whine and talk and cry even longer. ;-)

[sister-luck.livejournal.com]

It's true about the different schedule - he already had that when he was still inside me, starting to kick like a maniac between nine and ten at night. And as he doesn't have to get up early to be somewhere, we can live with the late bedtimes.

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

That sounds familiar!

LB didn't have such a tight schedule until she went to daycare anyway...

[sister-luck.livejournal.com]

So, you're hosting a night-owl?

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

Not really. More a wriggler who likes movement, so does it herself when Mama is having a rest.