As most everyone knows, Katya has had a lot of trouble falling asleep for the past year or so. Lately she has been asking for a big girl bed so I decided to tackle both issues at once. I am realizing that Craig and I are to blame for a lot of the sleep troubles (we were occasionally bringing her into our bed if she had trouble sleeping; only for 15 mins and not very often but that is enough for a 2 year old to stay up in hopes of seeing mom and dad). Then we got into the habit of going to her once (because she was taking her diaper off and yelling, "I have to go PEE-PEE!") and after that she would settle down (usually around 9pm...bedtime is still 7:30). Not good. So we are back on the right track, with the help of some self scrutiny and good 'ol Dr. Wiesenbluth (Healthy Sleep Habits, Healthy Child).
So now Katya has some sleep rules (which are posted in her room) to follow; staying in bed, keeping her diaper on, closing her eyes, staying very quite, and going to sleep. All but the diaper one is straight from the sleep book. If she follows the rules she gets to watch a movie and pick a treat when she wakes up. I bought some Honey Nut Cheerios and Kixs for this. I really like making TV watching more of a privilege that she earns then a normal occurrence (which has been the habit in our home; limited, albeit, but still not a 'special' thing). This afternoon's nap was a success and she got her rewards. That was only the 4th try (2 night times and 2 naps) since we started, not bad! If she does get up we are strictly following the 'silent return' approach in which we do not talk to her or even make eye contact. Even the smallest attention is a positive reinforcement with kiddos.
The girls and I went to the little pocket park up the street this afternoon. Many of you know the one, on Haven with the small slide and play stucture perfect for the little tykes. Katya was pretending that the top of the play structure was "Winnie the Witch's" house (a current favorite book) and there was a TV in the house. A little later she started laying down on the lower area of the play structure and saying, "I'm going ni-nite in my big girl bed." And then, "I'm awake! I stayed in my big girl bed! I get to pick a movie." She would walk up the little ramp and pretend to watch a movie and then come down and say, "Can I have some cake?" She did have cake for her treat today which was from Kennedy's (the little girl down the street) birthday party on Sunday.
Reagan was an animal at the park! Girlfriend was climbing up the little slide, pretty successfully! I had to help her a little at the top but not much. Once at the top she would push herself back and go down the slide on her tummy! I have been helping her down slides on her tummy lately and she loves it, but this is the first time she did it all on her own. This particular slide is perfect because it is so small. She was also crawling up the 'ramp' on the play structure and peeking out the little holes. Dying laughing of course when I would run around and look in at her. She was fearless....even tried going down the slide face first (did not turn out so good). And she is a climber! This morning at OMSI she was climbing onto and off of the little cube chairs over and over again. She is really good and getting down now. She gets off the couch no problem and she loves playing on Katya's bed.
Well, as I have been typing this it has been really quite upstairs...until just a minute ago that is. Katya has been in bed for 40 minutes and she just got up and was opening and closing the door. I did the silent return to bed, which I think also lets her know that I know she was up and so no movie and treat tomorrow morning. Bummer. Love to all!
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