We are in the thick of the distracted and delay-tactic toddler phase. Every day, D thinks of a way to deviate from the schedule. This is particularly challenging right now, since I am trying to get out the door to my new job at a certain time and with all of our stuff (lunches, phone, spare clothes, pull ups, scarves, mittens…). D thinks of all kinds of creative ways to prolong the inevitable trip to the car. First, he tries to stay in bed (“me still sleeping!”). Then, he wants to take his time (and he gets plenty) on the potty (“me still peeing and pooping, Mommy!”). Since he has always needed “transition time” from event to event, I’ve taken to simply sweeping him out of bed (still mostly asleep after 12 hours!) and taking him into our bed, where we read a book together, “skin to skin.” This has helped because it is a mirror of what we do at bedtime.
So now that mornings are getting easier, D has simply moved his delay tactic to the end of the day instead. After pickup, he doesn’t want to go home. He insists (with real tears!) that I turn right where I should turn left. The other day I played along and followed his directions instead of going home, and we ended up at the grocery store. Of course we did need a few things so that was ok, but it made the rest of the evening harder, because we were playing catch up against the clock. Last night we went to the library, where we picked out a few books and then rode the elevator.
Like all phases, I know this will pass, so I am trying to work with him and enjoy it before it is gone.
Another morning challenge can be getting him cleaned up; he needs at least a wipe down after that long, drool-encrusted sleep and full night time diaper. Often he has to be convinced to get showered. He and Daddy play a game in the shower called “Greased Piglet.” Daddy holds him and soaps him up, calls him a “greased piglet” and then D tries to slip away from his arms (Mommy is not strong enough to play this game). D roars with laughter when he successfully slips out of Jeff’s arms. Then he says, “Wash the geese off me, Daddy!”).
I was reflecting this morning on how he has now been a sleeper for longer than he was not a sleeper. He started sleeping through the night around 8 months, and about 6 months later, he was sleeping reliably past 5am. Since then he’s been an exceptional sleeper, with 12+ hours of sleep each night and long naps (2 hours on weekdays, and on weekends we have to wake him up at 3 hours). If he wakes on his own, he’ll lie in bed and rest (and say later “I was waiting for you, Mommy.”).
Until about a few months ago, he always feel asleep to the electronic Muzac-style tunes on his baby monitor (we now use an iPod with real songs). We used one song for nighttime and a song for napping. At nap time, I’d wrap him in the Didymos, go into his pitch-dark room, play the napping tune on the monitor, and we’d walk the room until he feel asleep (well before the 15 minute loop was complete). I didn’t recognize the tune we’d settled on for napping, so I made up my own words to sing along. I later consulted the manual and discovered the name of the lullabye was Golden Slumber, apparently an English song).
Last June we stopped napping together–that was 7 months ago! Since I don’t sing the song anymore, I am already starting to forget my unpoetic, sleep-deprived, made up lyrics, so I’m posting them here (real lyrics follow). After all, I might want to sing them to him one day, in some future “Let’s Play Baby” phase.
You are my baby,
through and through
I will always
Be here for you
I’ll always hold you and love you and care for you too
You know it’s true
The real words:
Golden slumbers kiss your eyes,
Smiles await you when you rise.
Sleep,
pretty baby,
Do not cry,
And I will sing a lullaby.
Cares you know not,
Therefore sleep,
While over you a watch I’ll keep.
Sleep,
pretty darling,
Do not cry,
And I will sing a lullaby.
I love our little geese piglet, how cute is he?? Growing so much. Your’re being so smart with your strategies. Remember how crazy it was when he wouldn’t sleep? Wonder how your ex-nanny’s baby is doing? Maybe her baby won’t sleep now.