Last night was the Senior Prom.
B had to chaperone so he "got out of" the dreaded bedtime routine. Bedtime has become a battle of the wills to say the least. If interested check out the CONs side of this list.
Last nights routine started very much the same way as previous nights but a bit more intense and then ended in a totally new and unwelcomed way.
We stepped in the door after having dinner at our friends house, and G went from sleepy, thumb-sucking boy to crazy toddler on sugar. (although he didn't have any sugar) Suddenly he was eager to "have a snack?" "play screwdrivers?" "take a tubby?" He wanted anything BUT to go to his room and read books.
It was time for bed, I had put him in his pjs at our friends house and damn it, he should have been ready to read books in his room. We went to the bathroom to brush his teeth. He allowed me one swipe with the brush before clamping down, turning his body away and demanding a tubby. I was trying to be patient, I tried explaining why he had to go to bed, then I tried counting, 1.....2..............2 1/2.........3.
So I put him in his crib without a bedtime story. I told him to get it all out and calm down and then I would be back to read books. I left the room and closed the door as he cried. Two minutes later, twisting the cap closed on my contact lens case I heard a loud crash.
I walked in to find him doing the downward dog on the hardwood floor just beneath his crib, pushing himself up to a standing position. My heart was pounding as I said, "What happened G?"
"I jumped." he calmly stated.
Jumped or launched yourself I thought, as my mind ran: How the heck did he manage that? On what part of his body did he land? How do I check for concusion in a toddler?
I started asking questions to which he should know the answer. He was stunned and didn't answer at first, just stared at the wall as I checked his body for damage.
Then he broke the silence and asked me to read him a book.
I read four.
I guess we won't be giving timeouts in the crib anymore. Does this mean it's time for a toddler bed? Anyone have any experience with this type of behavior?
- D
- Providence, RI
- I am a sculptor, an adjunct professor and the mother of two boys: 3 and 1 years old. This blog is record of my attempt to find inspiration in the ordinary.
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7 comments:
Any advice I would give you might be illegal (lol) But I do have 4 kids (3 of them boys) and my 2nd was the Jumper/crasher/refuse to go 2 bed boy/drive his mother to the edge of insanity child. I'm pretty sure that is where ALL of my gray hairs have come from. I did try cutting out daytime naps so he would just be so exhausted that he would just fall asleep at around the right time, but sometimes I was the one that could barely keep my eyes open. A toddler bed might be a good idea. Rewards have worked for some of my friends.(Try it-who knows?) However the best thing I can do is pray for you and let you know that you will survive this! Hang tight my friend!
I know who G gets his will from. Advice on the toddler bed, you will get it from many...maybe start by taking the front off his crib first and see how he does. S is already in a bed and did fine, but I have heard adjustment can be rough. Only problem is, you end up like me...sitting on the couch, hearing M creeping down the stairs going "it's funny Momma, it's funny." So NOT funny.
Know it all too well, my bloggy friend. All. Too. Well.
...and I have no right giving anyone advice on the toddler bed situation. My son is in a twin right now and it's working out great, but we started with the front rail off the crib, too.
Definitely not an easy process, so feel free to vent anytime.
One of my BFF's walked into her bedroom and found her 18mo son climbing along her dresser. (His crib was in her room at that point.) He went right into the toddler bed.
I put my daughter in a toddler bed at 24 months and she was fine. It was great that she could literally climb into it without falling over, but she moved in her sleep A LOT and the way the toddler beds are designed there was a railing (a small one) and no room to add a regular railing. So she fell out of be quite a few times. Luckily it was pretty close to the ground.
Luckily, C's recent changes at bedtime are not this drastic, but one thing that seems to settle her down is talking about how all of her other friends are going "night-night" too. She actually started doing it on her own and we've run w/it. She def. calms down knowing that the neighbor boy & his dog, and all her friends from school are also going to sleep. As for the toddler bed, I'm thinking it's almost time for us too. Friends of mine have put the mattress on the floor and let their kids sleep that way at first.
Bedtime. Isn't it SO unfair that you look forward to it all day long and then it ends up just about killing you? Oh wait, that's me. Well, my kids haven't yet slept in cribs, so I haven't had jumpers. But I've had enough transitions to tell you that sometimes it's actually easier than you imagine it to be. So take the next step—toddler bed, mattress on the floor, straight to twin (this is what we did, with a railing). Just do it. You may be pleasantly surprised. I thought moving my son from our bed to his own bed (and room) at 22 months was going to be impossible. It was the easiest transition so far. We made a big deal about it, and he loved it. Phew. Good luck!
A couple of years ago there was a knock on our bedroom door (which wasn't locked, so we weren't sure why someone was knocking) and Hubs opened it expecting to see our oldest, but instead, our youngest, who was supposed to be in her cirb, was standing there. We asked her to show us how she got out of her crib, and it's something that as a mother I should never have witnessed, LOL!
Anyhow, we got her a bed and she was great. Never got out of it, napped great and everything.
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