Eliza went to church this morning a happy little girl. She was wearing a beautiful new dress from my mother and enjoyed twirling around the house in it. The dress is red and is covered in glitter, so it definitely met Eliza's fashion criteria.
When she came home with Cheryl, the first words out of her mouth were: "I got bonked!" She ran to Nathan and showed her nursery battle wound. Apparently, a little boy was chasing his sister and ran into her. Their heads collided, which caused a massive goose egg to appear on her forehead.
The past week has been particularly difficult for Eliza (and Nathan and me). For a few days, she did wonderfully in her big girl bed. Then, on Wednesday or so, she decided she could open the door and walk out of her room whenever she wanted. She wants to open the door every time she goes into the room, so it has caused some definite problems. I thought about ordering a crib tent, but then realized Eliza's crib is broken (which helped facilitate her sleeping in a big bed).
The past two nights, she has been awake past 1 AM. Because I am "on shift" with the babies, this means Nathan has to stay awake and take care of the Eliza situation. Obviously, this has ruined our plan for shifts because Nathan isn't able to sleep when he is supposed to.
After a traumatic last night, I decided I would be the enforcer of the bedtime routine (Eliza continually got out of her bed for hours and screamed for Nathan. I thought removing Nathan from the equation would solve the problem). Each time she got out of bed, I put her back in the room. I talked to her the first time, but after the first offense, I said nothing and placed her back in the bed. I've seen Supernanny recommend this trick a dozen times and always hoped I would never have to try it. Thankfully, I had Cheryl to help provide moral support and encouragement.
After an hour of placing her back in the room and two hours of listening to her sob for "daddy not to be mean," she finally fell asleep. I went to check on her and found this heartbreaking scene when I opened the door:
Our little angel, curled up on her blanket, holding her Foofa. I wanted to sob. Instead, I scooped her up and placed her into bed. I wanted to stay with her and just hold her all night. I wanted to tell her that despite having twins, she is still our baby. I wanted to wake her up and tell her sorry for making her cry and just kiss her little face and sing all of her favorite songs.
I was strong, though, and let her sleep. But tomorrow morning, I'll make sure she know she's still our little princess. Hopefully, she won't remember the trauma of tonight. And hopefully, we won't have to go through it again.
Meh, she'll live. Haha. I'm so mean. I told Ty, I don't feel bad for her. Especially, if she's taking away from your sleep or anyone elses. She'll learn. She's a good girl, who just really hates the sleep thing. EXTROVERT wants to hang out with the peoples! Haha.
ReplyDeleteI think you did awesome. (As an avid supernanny fan, and having done this same thing with dangerous teenagers.) It makes you a good parent, many parents won't do that. Just remember that on the show, it sometimes took till the third night before it wasn't a problem. So tonight, good luck, it won't be as bad. (like I am a pro or something because I am obsessed with Jo.)
ReplyDeleteClearly I will be calling you when it's my own kid because that changes it all.
We did this with Ella. Took a long time, but it worked. What actually ended up helping us was putting the baby gate up at her door. We didn't (and still don't) care if she gets up around her room and reads or anything, as long s she doesnt wake us up, but we didn't want her leaving her room. She FREAKS OUT if we close her door, but didn't mind the gate at all. We used that for a couple of weeks and now she'll just stay in there on her own. I know the feeling of wanting to snuggle them and feeling bad about their struggles. They're so little and having such big changes to their world. I have to constantly remind myself that I'm teaching her a life skill and make sure to shower on the love during the day when she's awake :)
ReplyDeleteI'm proud of you, that had to have been soooo hard. :(
ReplyDeleteKeep on holding the line! It's hard to do when they are tiny--but it makes everything easier as they grow up. Learning to trust yourself to go to sleep has got to be one of the hardest things--but it transfers to all kinds of other situations and helps develop self-discipline (in my humble opinion!). Eliza's kindergarten teacher will be proud of you!
ReplyDeleteI remember doing sleep training when Noah was 9 months and being so glad he couldn't talk yet because I knew if he could, what he would say would break my heart, so I know how you feel! They know we love them, they know we'll always be there for them, and the important thing is that they learn how to sleep because they NEED sleep and learning how to sleep will benefit them for the rest of their life. You can do this, and I know how hard this must be. It will be SO worth it and will make your life so much easier as you guys go forward with two little boys to take care of as well. Hang in there and don't give up, so that this hard work wasn't for nothing! You're a wonderful mommy and she knows you love her. Being a mom is heartbreaking, I know just how you feel!
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