Saturday, September 17, 2011

Big Boy!

First of all, thanks for the sweet comments yesterday! If you missed it, feel free to introduce yourself to me on the post below! I added a few new blogs and heard from lots of friends! Thanks!

We have had some struggles at our house lately. James has been going through a crazy stage (I hope it's a stage) of having a hard time sleeping during naps and at night. He's NEVER been a good sleeper, but this has been even worse. At bedtime, he panics. He needs to be rocked again even though we haven't rocked him in months. Often, even after he's fallen asleep being rocked he wakes up when we put him in the bed and then needs us to rub his back until he finally falls asleep and we can sneak out. Then he wakes up 2-4 times each night. To say we're all a little bit sleepy is probably an understatement.

In addition to his nighttime problems, James has decided he doesn't like me to leave him at school. My normally bubbly, out-going child has become shy and quiet and clingy. It hurts my feelings to leave him, but I know that if I don't then we'll always have problems. (He is excited about school until I leave. I honestly think it's because he knows I'll be gone longer than at church AND he knows everyone at church and has been with them since he was six months old.)

So that brings us to Wednesday night. In an effort to keep from having a bedtime meltdown, I suggested that we get his twin bed mattress out and put it on the floor in his bedroom. It looks a bit...hmm...thrown together, but it will have to do until we make the bedroom switch. Eddie laid down with him and James they both went right to sleep. He still cried twice (but I doubt he was awake) and one of the times I went and laid down with him, but it was much better than it has been. At 5:40 he figured out how to open his bedroom door and I heard him padding into our room. He climbed in bed with us and slept until Eddie got up to get ready for work. It's still not ideal, but that's a lot less fuss than there has been!

Thursday night Eddie laid down with him again. James stirred and stirred and wouldn't go to sleep. Finally, Eddie realized he'd taken away a blanket that James wanted. (He is SO particular about what he needs/doesn't need to sleep {Ahem, he's my sister's child, not mine!}.) Once Eddie realized he needed the "BIG wubbie" (one that Leta made to match his bedding) he went right to sleep. I heard him getting up one time around 4. Eddie laid down with him and then James slept until 7:45. Success! The best part was that James came to my room and was not Captain Cranky Pants like he usually is when he realizes his daddy has already gone to work. (James is not a fan of his mama in the morning.) We snuggled and watched TV before we got up for breakfast! Hallelujah!

Last night he slept all night long! He came to our room at 7:10 this morning. Earlier than he's usually up, but not as early as some children so we'll take it! (He has "fallen" out of bed two of the three nights. He rolls right off onto pillows and then the carpet so it's not a big deal and doesn't seem to bother him at all. However, we'll definitely need bed rails when we put him in a real bed in two weeks.)

Hopefully the bedtime routine will get better. I sort of felt like he was preparing me for a newborn again for a while! Whew! I know we'll regress once Baby Brother is here, but in the meantime let's sleep!


(Eddie would like me to put a disclaimer that this is my college bed. We did not purchase pink sheets and will be changing them when we do his big boy room in two weeks.)

Last night we had dinner with some friends, Krissy and Russell. James is obsessed with Krissy and showed off for her the whole time we were eating. I hope we didn't scare them off. :) He was a little bit wild!

In other news, James thinks it's his birthday. Ha! He has had a few birthdays at school since they started and Mom's birthday a few weeks ago. He "sings" "Happy Day" every single day. Yesterday I asked whose birthday it was and he said "Me!" and then sang "Happy Day to Me!" We've (unintentionally) given him two birthday presents this week. (Unintentionally in the same week...we were going to do it early anyway.) On Thursday night Eddie put together the table and chairs we got for the big boy room and on Friday his brand new boots came in. To top it all off, Publix Baby Club sent him a birthday card and he opened it today and knew exactly what it was. I think it's hilarious. I've heard of people celebrating their birthday week or their birthday month, but we're not close yet! It's not even his birthday season! :) It's fun that he'll "get it" this year, though!







The remainder of our weekend is going to be spent getting caught up on all the things we've put off because I've been sick or we've been out of town. I've been cleaning like a crazy person the past two days because I finally feel good and I have not even made a dent. It's awful. Feel free to come vacuum today if you'd like!

1 comment:

pcb said...

Boots and a diaper. What more does a guy need? :)