The hardest part of this latest phase is bedtime. All of a sudden our wonderful sleeper is having separation issues at bedtime. It doesn't happen every night but when it does....let's just say not much gets done around here in the evening. Greg and I have tried to be very purposeful in everything we've done with Kai regarding sleep. Naps were timed carefully, he was put to sleep "drowsy yet awake," no co-sleeping, we established a consistent bedtime routine early on, etc, etc. And it paid off. Kai is a great sleeper. We've heard stories of parents who have had to go to ridiculous extremes to get their toddlers to sleep b/c they never established good sleep habits as babies. Well, we can wipe the smug look off our mugs b/c tonight Kai clearly had control and all sleep principles were thrown out the window as our 2 year old called the shots for about an hour after he had been put to sleep for the night. So I guess maybe it doesn't matter that much after all how hard you work to instill good sleep habits....if they're gonna go, they're gonna go...
Now Greg is a much wittier writer than myself so I'll let him tell the story of tonight's escapades.
Thanks, Louise! Greg here. Some additional background on Kai's communication skills: Kai has lately taken to communicating his thoughts with actions. For instance, yesterday he told us that our house was too messy by going into the closet and coming back with Swifter in-hand, and giving it to me. Louise and I thought it was pretty hilarious, but we took the hint - during Kai's 'rest period' this afternoon, we straightened up the the downstairs to our man's exacting standards.
This evening was another example: after Louise, then I, tried unsuccessfully to get Kai to calm down, I decided to lie down on the floor next to him while he fretted a bit near the hallway window. Louise said "Look Kai, Daddy's sleeping!". The next thing I know, his soother is getting shoved into my mouth. As if to say "You wanna sleep? Take THIS then!!" And with that, any chance of a calm, soothing bed-time routine was solidly blown out of the water.
We eventually got Kai to sorta pretend he was sleeping with us - Louise & I laid down on the upper hallway floor, so Kai thought it'd be fun to lie down too. No sooner had Louise spoken the words "Maybe we COULD go camping together" then Mr. Footloose started jerking his legs along the walls, then walking all over us.
After a few minutes of this, I decided to tempt him back into his room by lying down in there. Louise then enticed him w/ some singing and beckoning because he didn't want to leave the hallway and it finally hit me: "Man, its just like in 'The Two Towers' when Frodo tricks Gollum into getting captured!" Fortunately, Kai is a little cuter and less slithery than Gollum, but the two can both put up quite a racket when they get riled up! Precious...
Back to reality, we tried the psuedo-camping gig for a few more minutes on his floor, then after a wildly unsuccessful attempt to put Kai into the crib, I asked Louise to get a frozen treat. During one of his crying spells, we managed to calm him down by asking him to say 'blueberry'. Ever ready to please, he whispered " Boo... bay-bay " No matter how distraught, he always tries for us!
Once Louise returned, we got him in the rocking chair and after a few slurps of something called a 'Smooze', all prior bellowings/rantings/protests were long-forgotten and we were left with the gentle slurps and quiet 'Boo-bay-bay' mutterings of a happy camper. Before he could remember what was what, I put him back in the crib w/ his Bunny and high-tailed it out of there. How's THAT for ridiculous bed-time extremes??
Now for an example of a 'blueberry' in a calmer setting:
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