My Toddler Sleep Solution...

Remember my post about Bubbalu starting to escape from his room instead of sleeping?

Well, Lance woke up Saturday morning to find him standing in the laundry room, blankie and all, looking at the door to the garage saying, "where's Mommy where's Daddy?" over and over again.

Hmmm. We have no idea how long he was downstairs by himself.

I'm not too thrilled with the idea of him wandering all over the house completely unsupervised. Especially since he can get into the garage...and because he should be sleeping and isn't getting the rest he needs...and because Mommy might lose her sanity.

All valid reasons to remedy the problem posthaste.

Saturday afternoon he jumped right out of bed during nap time to come and explore. Over and over again, despite repeat 'punishments' and stern lectures from Mommy about the merits of staying in the truck bed and following our sleep rules:

1. We stay in our bed


2. We close our eyes


3. We are quiet


4. We do not jump or kick the walls


5. We go to sleep

Apparently the sleep rules aren't that fun to follow. I don't know why he doesn't like them, I LOVE the sleep rules. Sometime I have to remind myself to not to jump or kick the walls instead of sleeping, but usually I remember.

So, my solution. First I jumped into the car and zipped over to my in-laws to borrow their gate which (at the suggestion of my MIL) we put on his outside doorjamb. We put him to bed as usual that evening, reciting the sleep rules and tucking him in.

He was none too thrilled to find a gate blocking his escape when he opened his bedroom door one minute later. Much crying and gnashing of teeth. He was one ticked-off little dude. He ended up falling asleep that night lying against the gate clutching his blankie.

However, I decided that, despite the gate introduction, he was still getting to sleep 2 hours late and we needed another something.

Enter the Pack 'n Play. Every mother's tool for ensconcing their child safely whilst you go about your day.

I set it up in his room for Sunday nap time and told him that he needed to stay in bed or he would be put in the Pack 'n Play. He didn't believe me.

Oh my dear Son, have you not learned anything about your Mommy? Do NOT test me.

More crying and gnashing of teeth. But only 5 minutes, not 2 hours of singing, crying and yelling by the gate. And he had a super nap.

Sunday bedtime? Same deal. Only 3 minutes of crying and gnashing of teeth.

So there you have it. I am hoping it will only take a few days of Pack 'n Play enforcement before he just stays in his truck bed. I'll be leaving the gate up for his safety and my sanity though.

I'll keep you updated...

A

- Ok, I wrote this Sunday night, and now, Tuesday morning, we are still sleeping in the Pack N Play. Hmmm. I'll update yall bout the situation in a week or so...

It's Just A REALLLLY Long Scarf..

While on bed rest I really didn't panic about the whole labor and delivery aspect of having a baby. What really caused me to break out in a glistening cold sweat was the thought of having another colicky infant.

Unless you have had a colicky child you have NO idea what those babies are like. What the parents go through. There should be some sort of public recognition for surviving a colicky infant. Maybe a nice local newspaper article? :

Lance and Amanda have survived the colic phase of their son, Bubbalu, who is now 6 months old. We extend our sincere sympathies as well as applaud their extraordinary parenting skills, superb psychological steadfastness and tremendous infant intuition. We praise them for not going completely insane and thank them for withholding extraneous complaints regarding this chapter of their lives. Donations may be made at any local bank to the 'Amanda Believes In Shopping Therapy' Fund.

I think it has a nice ring to it.

Bubbalu was the colic king for quite a few months, so I consider myself an authority on soothing and coping with colicky/extremely fussy babies.

My favorite soothing tool I used for Bubbalu was the Moby Wrap. It's basically a really long piece of fabric (like a scarf) that you can wrap around your body in different configurations so your baby can be carried around hands-free in a snug and ergonomic fashion. It's kinda confusing to put it on the first few times but once you have it down, you're golden.

It's a huge relief to have your hands free to do dishes, fold laundry, clean the house....hee hee hee, who am I kidding!? It makes blogging with a newborn easy and possible. Lil Chick is snuggled in the Moby as we speak...write...type...whatever.

Lil Chick does not have colic. Her personality falls in between the normal and mellow category. I consider it a HUGE gift from God that she is a calm baby, especially after dealing with our month of chaos in which I hit rock bottom.

I actually kind of feel I am now getting my postpartum rest. However, I laughed out loud after reading in a pregnancy book, 'during the first two to three weeks postpartum you should be resting more often than not'.

Uh huh. Right.

Lil Chick does well in the Moby and I can even go out for a nice long walk. See? Here's Lil Chick in the Moby wrap on a jaunt to the park:



See Bubbalu in the top right of the pic? He loves playing at the park and Mommy loves how tired he gets after the park.

I'm no math whiz, but check THIS problem out:

Trip to the park + eating a big lunch after we get home = LOOONNNGG nap.

Priceless.

Anyone else have/had colicky infants? Any favorite infant survival tips?

A

Check out more ways to carry a baby from other Mamas at Adventures In Babywearing.

And Then Bubbalu Turns 2...

Or 2 years and 29 days, but whatever.

We decided to celebrate Bubbalu's birthday a bit late because:

• we had Lil Chick 4 days before his birthday
  
• his Mama is neurotic and can't have a birthday party for her boy without making him a truck cake
• half the family was in Winthrop for Shane and Joanie's wedding (which we actually made it to!)
  
• he wouldn't know any different or care as long as he got to tear into presents and nosh on cake
  

So, after I made his truck cake we invited the fam over for coffee, presents and cake.

Opening an alphabet puzzle (which he has almost mastered!) :



A 'TEEE-RUCK!' rug:



Hmmm, what's in here:



Nice look, Daddy. Your head looks HUGE:



The cowboy hat is for Bubbalu to wear when riding the stick horse he got for Christmas. Here he is a week ago tearing up the living room on his horse:



I love my little cowboy. I almost bought him cowboy boots, but Lance vetoed that notion. Apparently they weren't "necessary" and there was mention of some ridiculous fact that we don't live on a farm or ranch.

Once again, WHATEVER. I still think he looks adorable:



Little People stuff always a BIG hit, provided you can untie all those arthritic-inducing twisties:



And yes, the picture is blurry, but Auntie Beppa and Uncle Dusta gave him another Little People Police car a few days later to add to his collection:



And Mama and Papa bought Bubbalu his first official Radio Flyer tricycle, since his scuttle bug scooter is now way too small for him:



Hello nostalgia.

He's our own little LIFE photo come to, well, life.

It was (of course) raining, so on with his rain coat and Daddy helped him on his inaugural ride down the front path:



Happy Birthday darlin, we love you...

A