I've seen several threads on my November 2012 Mama's board about the two year sleep regression. And passed them all over with a sympathetic 'thank goodness I have a great sleeper.'
Ahem. Famous last words.
This past week has been incredibly challenging on so many fronts. BC was gone on an 8 day business trip to Arizona and Mexico. My work became insanely busy, demanding every.single.moment of time I could possibly devote to it (and seeing me working many nights until at least 10pm… which… if you must know, is an hour past my normal bedtime).
Then my sweet toddler- my always consistent good sleeper of a girl- decided she was going to shake things up.
It started the day BC left. At bedtime, Iyla played her now typical 'let's delay bedtime' games- running away from me, taking EXTRA long on the potty, demanding to play more, etc. When I had finally successfully got her into her crib, instead of a peaceful goodnight she freaked out crying, demanding "Mama hold you! Mama hold you!." I went through every trick in the book to soothe and reassure her, alternating between compassion ("I see you are sad. Mama loves you and will be back soon!") and stating firm limits ("you are SO tired. It is time to go to bed. You already snuggled Mama- you can now snuggle your lamb.") These shenanigans took the bulk of an HOUR, with Iyla scream crying hard every time I left the room.
The challenge for me was trying to figure out exactly what was going on. Testing limits? Separation anxiety (her Papa had just left)? Teething (she was cutting ALL four canines)? I was at a loss and hoping this evening's events were a one night fluke.
Nope.
Every single day this week Iyla has had something new up her sleeve. Sometimes it was a complete meltdown before bed. Sometimes it was waking in hysterics in the middle of the night or after her nap. All very extreme reactions necessitating much coaxing and calming, and one night finding me resorting to putting her to sleep in our bed. The first time she's been there since she was 3 months old!
This would be exhausting no matter what, but having to field this behavior PLUS a crazy work schedule PLUS operating as a single parent was absolute insanity.
Needless to say I was so ready for BC to return home late last night. He was thrown into the fire with night & morning duty, and reported Iyla was up 2x last night, one of which had her screaming "door open! Door open!" until he went to her and left her bedroom door open.
If any of you readers have words of wisdom or advice, I am ALL ears!
You'd never know from these adorable morning shots just what a stinker this one has been lately….
Ahem. Famous last words.
This past week has been incredibly challenging on so many fronts. BC was gone on an 8 day business trip to Arizona and Mexico. My work became insanely busy, demanding every.single.moment of time I could possibly devote to it (and seeing me working many nights until at least 10pm… which… if you must know, is an hour past my normal bedtime).
Then my sweet toddler- my always consistent good sleeper of a girl- decided she was going to shake things up.
It started the day BC left. At bedtime, Iyla played her now typical 'let's delay bedtime' games- running away from me, taking EXTRA long on the potty, demanding to play more, etc. When I had finally successfully got her into her crib, instead of a peaceful goodnight she freaked out crying, demanding "Mama hold you! Mama hold you!." I went through every trick in the book to soothe and reassure her, alternating between compassion ("I see you are sad. Mama loves you and will be back soon!") and stating firm limits ("you are SO tired. It is time to go to bed. You already snuggled Mama- you can now snuggle your lamb.") These shenanigans took the bulk of an HOUR, with Iyla scream crying hard every time I left the room.
The challenge for me was trying to figure out exactly what was going on. Testing limits? Separation anxiety (her Papa had just left)? Teething (she was cutting ALL four canines)? I was at a loss and hoping this evening's events were a one night fluke.
Nope.
Every single day this week Iyla has had something new up her sleeve. Sometimes it was a complete meltdown before bed. Sometimes it was waking in hysterics in the middle of the night or after her nap. All very extreme reactions necessitating much coaxing and calming, and one night finding me resorting to putting her to sleep in our bed. The first time she's been there since she was 3 months old!
This would be exhausting no matter what, but having to field this behavior PLUS a crazy work schedule PLUS operating as a single parent was absolute insanity.
Needless to say I was so ready for BC to return home late last night. He was thrown into the fire with night & morning duty, and reported Iyla was up 2x last night, one of which had her screaming "door open! Door open!" until he went to her and left her bedroom door open.
If any of you readers have words of wisdom or advice, I am ALL ears!
You'd never know from these adorable morning shots just what a stinker this one has been lately….
"Sleep regression? Who me?"
(Love how it looks like she has wings here… given she has SO not been angelic to deal with lately!)
I would be on the look out for some huge breakthrough, leap in skills, developmental milestone, full sentence talking, behavioral improvement, etc...For me, the point at which I feel I.CANNOT.HANDLE.ONE.MORE.SECOND.WITH.MY.KIDS is usually the point right before they inexplicably stop being so difficult.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, the period of their disintegration is often at an inconvenient time (when Mom is busiest or least-resourced). Vent to and get support from people you can trust and know it won't (likely) last.
I'm sorry it's been a rough week.
Abby