Sleep Help Day 1

We had a difficult day today and it made me even more anxious because I knew we were starting the new sleep plan for Ceili, our 5 year old daughter today.

The sleep consultant told me to watch for when she was tired and put her for a nap then (yes, she still naps for around an hour a day which is surprisingly normal!). She was acting tired at around 12:30 pm after we had lunch so I put both girls for a nap. Abbey, our 17 month old was out like a light. Ceili on the other hand was acting crazy in her bad, saying she couldn't sleep. I went in to check on her at one point and she had changed her clothes, taken every bow she owns down off of her bow holder and had played with a bunch of toys in her room. Needless to say there was no nap for her and she ended up having a meltdown afterwards saying she was "sooo tired".

When Matt came home at 4:30 pm she was eating an apple for a snack and we had to keep her awake because she was nodding off and spilling apple slices everywhere! She got her second wind, thankfully and ate supper fine. I gave them both a bath right after bed and got them into pj's. They had a snack and Ceili brushed her teeth and went potty then we read a couple of books to them. She was excited because she got a sticker on her chart for doing those things.

Then the nighttime routine began. It was Matt's turn to put her to bed so she got to choose a "dream card". I put them together by finding photos from magazines and gluing them onto heavy paper. The photos are of things like a field of flowers, mountains, a lake with geese, etc. Matt and Ceili talked about the picture before bed and helped her to visualize what could be happening in the picture to help her be calm and have sweet dreams. He also did the usual routine of telling her a story and singing a song. He said she was pretty crazy and not calm at all though.

She came out of her room once and went potty again then tried to argue about her slippers because she couldn't find them. Matt reminded her of the rules and she went back to bed and was asleep by 8pm! What a change! I am hoping that she sleeps through the night and feels rested in the morning.

Oh the Tantrums!

I survived the "Terrible Twos" but I'm not sure I will make it through the last 4 months of the "Terrifying Threes"! Ceili has been switching between monster and angel at least a hundred times a day lately and I don't quite know what to do about it.

I always make sure to spend time with just her every day and do something puzzles, coloring, a craft, etc. but she still acts up. It drives me absolutely insane because she does it completely on purpose alot of the time. She will look at me and smile as she does something she's not supposed to do.

Today was one of those days that I'm surprised my whole head of hair didn't turn grey. We had planned to go for a walk because it was supposed to be warmer outside today. She refused to get dressed until I threatened her with no walk, she refused to brush her teeth until I threatened no walk, and so on. Finally after I wrestled her into her coat which she said was "the wrong one" then I said "If I hear another complaint or you talk back again, we are not going for a walk and that's final". I got Abbey into her carseat and coat. I asked Ceili to please put her boots on, because there is about 2 feet of snow on the ground. She proceeded to put on her running shoes while yelling at me and said that she would not wear her boots.

Then I had to be the mean mommy and say "Okay, we are not going for a walk now". She didn't believe I was serious and when she finally saw me taking her sister's coat off, she flipped! There was a period of about half an hour of crying and pleading, but she eventually stopped.

I felt awful because she was so broken- hearted but I knew I had to follow through or she would never take me seriously. Just another day of being a mother of a toddler I guess!