Saturday, January 23, 2010

Umbrella madness



If you give a child an umbrella, she will want to be out in the rain. When you take the umbrella away, an episode of screaming and floor kicking will occur. Yes, this was Kaitlyn's reaction. Let's just say the umbrella has found a permanent home in the back end of my car where she cannot find it...at least for another year! It's too heavy for her little hands and with her fierce independent streak, it becomes a ticket for frustration.

The sleep drama has come to an end. I crashed the other night after bartering with Kaitlyn to slumber for over 3 and 1/2 hours. Fortunately she did eventually end up falling asleep in her toddler bed, but it was 12:30am. By naptime the next day I had Steve put her crib back and right to sleep she went. This week has really been a bad dream. I don't recommend reacting the way I did for anyone who encounters their child for the first time straddling crib railing. It's not like she is going to get really hurt if she did fall. We have a great carpet and she is quite the adventurous gal. Once she does climb out, falling or not, she'll be ready to do it again and again (assuming we aren't there to intervene and correct the behavior). At that point, when it becomes repetitive, we will bring out the toddler bed and handle it all differently! I'm truly grateful she is back to her old self. I forget how little she really is...only 20 months. Going from a crib to a toddler bed or any different sleep environment can prove to be too much change. Add a younger sibling to the mix and you are really signing up for DRAMA.