My babies are growing up... Naptime and other musings.

This has been a very interesting week in the Richard household.  Isaiah recently began sleeping in his big boy bed in his new room on a regular basis.  We first attempted the big boy bed earlier in January, but it was an epic fail, and Isaiah ended up screaming in the middle of the night and then slept back in his crib.  On January 10, he napped for the first time in his big boy bed, and it actually went really well!  We did the normal bedtime/naptime routine and he went right to sleep.  So, it sounds like the change from crib to big boy bed is a success right?  Oh, so far from it.   

On January 18, he began sleeping in his big boy bed every night.  It has now been a week and a half and while it is apparently a joyous milestone for Isaiah, it has been hell for mom and dad.  On Monday morning at 3:45 am, Isaiah decided that "I no take a nap" and was awake for the day.  On Tuesday, Isaiah got into the *childproof* Tylenol container, and mommy found him with the lid.  I called poison control, and we went to the ER, because I had no idea if he took any.  We spent six hours at St. Clair Hospital Emergency Room, and we missed naptime.  (Note:  A blood test four hours after he may have taken Tylenol, and a two hour wait on results confirmed that Isaiah had apparently ingested NO Tylenol, and he is okay!)  Isaiah fell asleep, dead tired, at 7 pm that night. Wednesday night was a huge struggle with mom and dad, and after crying, crying, spanking, and more crying, Isaiah finally went to bed at 11 pm.  Thursday naptime was a battle with "I no take a nap" as Isaiah's war cry.  I left him upstairs and kept telling him to go lay down in his bed.  He stood at the top of the stairs and cried on and off for 2 hours, and then he was finally quiet and I thought he took a nap.  It turns out he was in the bathroom, playing in the toilet with the toilet scrubber.  Again, epic fail.  Thursday at bedtime, more war cry from Isaiah, and we attempted a method where in do your bedtime routine as you normally would, and each time the child gets out of bed, without saying a word, you place them back in their bed and leave the room.  It worked after 30 or 40 minutes, finally a successful moment for mom and dad in a full week of failures!

After our night of success, the rest of the week confirmed that we have no idea what we are doing as parents.  Friday, before 5:30 am, Isaiah was awake for the day.  By 9:00 am on Friday, he was falling asleep watching the television.  Since he was obviously tired, I tried the method from the night before, but to no avail, so I left him in his room.  He cried for a while and then was silent for 45 minutes, cried for 20 more and then was silent for another hour.  Was he sleeping?  I'll never know because Annika and I were passed out on the couch from sheer exhaustion.  Friday night at bedtime, John had to lay with Isaiah in his bed so that he would go to sleep.  Saturday morning, Isaiah was up again at 5 am.  After a week of spotty naps and bad nighttime sleep, Isaiah and dad ran errands, and Isaiah fell asleep after about 5 minutes in the car.  Exhausted?  I think so.  He took a 40 or so minute nap in the car, and refused naptime again.  Saturday night, again, John had to lay in his bed until he fell asleep.  Sunday morning, Isaiah was up at 3 am and John had to lay in his bed again until he fell asleep.  What an exhausting and terrible week! 

I am beyond frustration with my child who was once a great sleeper.  Prior to the big boy bed, he would fall asleep without a fuss every night between 8 and 9 pm, and sleep until 7 or 8 am.  In addition to his nighttime sleep, he would sleep three hours every afternoon.  THREE hours EVERY afternoon.  To me, that builds a strong case that he needs a significant amount of sleep.  This week, he has been sleeping from 9 or 10 pm until 5 am with no nap.  And he's been grumpy, because he's tired.  Mom and dad are frustrated, and beside ourselves.  

All of our naptime and bedtime woes to say, change is tough and as soon as you think you have something down pat, kids change!  The other thing that our naptime and bedtime woes prompt me to say is HELP!!  If you have some suggestions for us and know how to overcome our nap woes, I'd like to hear!!  Isaiah's grumpiness depends on it!

In other news, Annika just turned 3 months old this week and she sleeps like a champ.  She goes to bed around 9 pm, wakes once in the middle of the night to eat, and gets up for the day around 10 or 11 am.  I love her.  :P

My beautiful 3 month old princess!

Two wildly different children, in wildly different stages in life.  It makes me realize that there is always a new challenge around the corner.  Isaiah has a new little sister, a new big boy bed, and a new room.  And while there are plenty of tough changes for mom in adding a new baby to the brood, this change is tough for older kids, too.  Babies and toddlers will keep life interesting!  They also keep you wondering how on earth your parents did it and how you turned out so well!