Parenting is a funny thing and if you’re
\n not careful you can make yourself crazy with self-doubt and
\n seconding guessing — trust me, I’m an expert! <\/p>\n
We went grocery shopping this afternoon (Lex
\n choose to sit in the cart the entire time “so I don’t get
\n lost,” but that’s another story) and we got home around 6:30pm.
\n Lex said he wanted to listen to music for awhile and have no
\n bath and no stories. Alan and I agreed to this, so we turned on
\n a CD for him and he settled down in the living room. I brought
\n him a little food and Eve joined him for dinner in the living
\n room with the music on. This was good for about 1\/2 hr until
\n Lex started getting a little rambunctious and kicked Eve off
\n her chair. She fell right over and cried, and cried, and cried.
\n I think she was startled and tired more than actually hurt. Lex
\n got a “so sad” in the office and Alan put Eve to bed. A short
\n while later Lex threw a ball at the TV! Luckily it was a soft,
\n plastic ball and did no damage, but OMG that is not good
\n behavior!!! I promptly turned off his music and he went to bed.
\n He screamed and protested and Alan ended up putting him to bed
\n in his clothes and all. No bath, no stories, no clean teeth, no
\n new diaper, no pajamas… no pieces of the usual bedtime
\n routine. We then proceeded to deal with him for almost two
\n hours. He would cry and scream, then settle down and we’d think
\n he was sleeping, but then he’d start crying a long, sad wail
\n again, or he’d get up and ask to come down stairs. It was
\n awful. But the worst part is that while dealing with a child
\n you have lots of time to wonder if you’re doing the right thing
\n and if he’s really that hungry and second-guess how you should
\n have handled the situation. It’s like adding insult to injury,
\n not only are you listening to a screaming child but you’re also
\n questioning every move you made and wondering if you could have
\n handled the whole thing better. Or maybe it’s just me? Anyway,
\n around 9:15 Alan tried to lay down with him which often settles
\n him down, but this time Lex ended up crying so uncontrollably
\n that Alan brought him into our room. I decided to bring him
\n some milk and we ended up sitting on the bed reading stories.
\n After a cup of milk, a few stories, and new pajamas (he was
\n apparently unhappy with the ones Alan put on him earlier) Lex
\n told me his body was tired and need to rest. He climbed in bed,
\n I stayed with him for a few minutes as he recapped the
\n situation (“I turned my shirt around so the picture was down,
\n then I pulled it over my head! I was crying and crying and I
\n didn’t like the pants daddy picked. The milk you brought me
\n makes me feel a little bit better.”) and then he went right to
\n sleep. <\/p>\n
As I analyzed the situation I
\n think the problem is that there was no rountine at all before
\n we put him in bed. It was his choice, but that doesn’t mean he
\n knew how to handle it. Sometimes we miss one part of the
\n routine and he does ok, but tonight with NO pieces of the
\n routine at all I think his little routine-centric psychy
\n couldn’t handle it. Sigh. Parenting can be hard! But now we
\n have two babies sleeping peacefully and life is ok again. (Poor
\n Eve had to sleep through two hours of ordeal. Imagine the
\n dreams she was having!)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Parenting is a funny thing and if you’re not careful you can make yourself crazy with self-doubt and seconding guessing — trust me, I’m an expert! We went grocery shopping this afternoon (Lex choose to sit in the cart the … Continue reading