So my son is 22 months
TODAY! Its crazie to think that he is
going to be 2 years old in a few months. Every morning there is something new that he
says or does and I am caught mouth open just gazing at him in awe. How did this little person come
to be!? It really is all so exciting. I still can’t believe I get to be a part of this…
In light of this, Jus
and I are currently struggling to establish a bedtime to sleep routine for this lovely
child of ours. No, let me rephrase that, we are struggling to establish a WORKING routine for this child… See, he’s always had a bedtime routine and truthfully, it is pretty
solid. He knows what is happening next and for the most part he doesn’t really
fight it. In fact, if he’s in a good mood, then he is rather eager to hit up each part: dinner, bathtime, pj’s, story
time, prayer and then lights out. Well,
all except for ‘lights out’ – that’s when the battle really begins. He starts
saying no (of course) but then moves to ‘momma, hold you’ (which to him means, momma,
hold me) or ‘I wanna see dadda’ or ‘travis’ or ‘whoever-else-i-can-think-of-that-will-get-me-outta-this-going-to-sleep-situation’.
This kid, I tell you.
Now don’t get me wrong,
we aren’t afraid of him crying (kids cry, it’s okay) or of putting our foot
down with him, etc. This is what we go through almost every night. But he hasn't actually had anything really consistent in terms of a routine when it comes to what happens after lights go
out. For some reason or another, it always changes…and if we really think about it, it's mostly because we are not on the same page or 100% convinced
of the method we are currently doing (because it doesn’t seem like its working
or what not) and ultimately we are still just trying to figure it out. Especially
since the little guy had a ton of major life changes all happen right after
another, starting in the fall: vacation without mommy and daddy, surgery,
crib-to-toddler bed, new baby brother, and then getting sick here and there on
top of that....well, it resulted in us just never getting the after-lights-out routine down pat. So no wonder this kid is all over the place
with it; it’s just been so confusing. Let him cry it out (CIO) or check on him? Pick him up…leave
him? Let him get out of bed…put him back in? Etc. Now, after so many months, he’s
just forgotten how to get to sleep on his own, and it is so important,
especially since we all wake up in the middle of the night due to sleep cycles, and as adults, we can just go back to sleep. For children, it’s not so simple. They need to be taught.
I made up a little chart for him that I hung on a wall in his room
at his level and I made little gold stars to velcro next to one that he completes. Perhaps when he gets a little older, maybe I can add a reward if there is a gold star next to each (hopefully he will have the routine down pat by then) but for now the gold stars themselves are enough of a hit (seriously, it's the little things that excite
them at this age). Obviously, it’s been the first day, but he loved it. He still
fought when it came to lights out, but it’s okay. I think I just feel better because
there is some sort of plan in place. Hopefully we stick to it. I’ll let you know how it goes.
