Nap Time Shenanigans

Lately Iyla has really been shaking things up in the nap department. In the past week alone there have been THREE days where she just sat and played up in her room in lieu of sleeping, and on each of those days I've gone in after an hour to fetch her. Miraculously she does relatively well until bedtime, though she definitely has a shorter fuse. Dare I say the end of naps may be on the horizon?

She's also been pushing her naps out later and later, and on the days she does fall asleep after her hour long party quiet time it's usually 3pm or later. This makes afternoon activities near impossible, as sometimes she will sleep until 4:30 or 5! I am hopeful this will all shake itself out once daylight savings begins- otherwise I'll be re-scheduling a lot of our spring activities.

She's also been experimenting with new spots to nap

The most hilarious nap time shenanigan, however, occurred Sunday afternoon post pumpkin patch.

I had left Iyla's room and as usual, she was up and wandering about her room for "quiet time." She disappeared off of the video monitor into a corner of the room where I couldn't see her. I heard her chatting to herself for awhile before she began to call out "Mama, carry me! Mama, carry!" which admittedly was an odd thing for her to be saying. I spoke to her through the monitor that it was quiet time, and that she should get back into her bed to snuggle her teddy bear. She called back "I can't! Carry me." I then told her I'd be up in a little bit, hoping that would calm her enough toward her getting back into bed.

When the fussing persisted, I finally went up to soothe her and found that little lady stuck sitting inside her garbage can.

Her.garbage.can!

It was hilarious, even though she was obviously upset. She clearly hadn't known how to say "I'm stuck in my garbage can," hence the "Mama, carry me!" That poor buddy was probably thinking she'd have to spend her entire nap stuck like that.

Of course I had to take a photo before rescuing her…. so here it is, Iyla Grace stuck in her garbage can at almost 3 years old:

This weekend we will be securing all furniture to the walls, lest she come up with any further shenanigans!

Pumpkin Patch 2015

Today Iyla and I headed out to Barton Hills Farm to meet our friends for a day at the Pumpkin Patch. It was a blast- complete with farm animals, a train ride, a huge jumping pillow, treats, and of course- pumpkins.

Here's a summary of our day in photos:

And just for fun, here's one of Iyla from her very first trip to a pumpkin patch in 2013. So cute! I love this tradition.

The Paci Fairy

On Friday, the "Paci Fairy" paid a visit to Iyla Grace. 

For awhile now we'd been talking about how the Paci Fairy would be coming to take the tops off of her pacifiers to give to new babies who needed them, in return bringing her a couple of new Big Girl lovie toys. I had decided to go the route of just cutting the nipples off her Wannanub pacis vs. taking the entire pacifier away, hoping that might make the whole event a little less traumatic.

The main reason I proactively chose to do this was because I could see Iyla's teeth starting to shift from pacifier use. She only used the pacifiers during nap, bed, & occasionally in the car, but despite this her teeth were starting to get the suspect curved "paci" look. We also are only one month away from Iyla turning 3 (!!!), so I figured it was time. 

Here's a shot of Iyla the morning she was to become an official BIG GIRL:

Out to breakfast with my buddy

When we returned home from our morning outings, I let her watch a short video while the Paci Fairy went to work upstairs:

After the video ended I let her know that the Paci Fairy had arrived and it was time to go upstairs. I was SO nervous about how it would all go down, as this is a kid who loves her pacis- habitually soothing herself by sucking on one while rubbing her nose with the other. 

When we got upstairs her initial reaction was one of excitement and wonder at the seemingly magical event that had just occurred. Was this going to be easier than I had anticipated? Had I just dodged a bullet?

Not so fast, Mama.

After settling down from the initial excitement Iyla climbed into bed with her new gifts and maimed pacis. She played and chatted with her new bunny (the horse got kicked to the side) before fatigue got the best of her and the hard part began. 

There was grief. Genuine, heart-wrenching grief. She kept crying that she wanted her paci tops back and asking that I come snuggle her (which I absolutely did). There were big tears interspersed with exasperated sighs & yawns. She eventually found comfort by pulling a little pillow over her face and finally (oh so thankfully) fell asleep. About 30 minutes later there was another tearful wake up before she passed out again.

Sweet girl finally asleep, clutching both pacis

When she awoke the 2nd time I was SO grateful to find her in good spirits. 

BC and I decided to treat our Big Girl to a night out on the town at her (and our!) favorite local happy hour spot: The Driskill Hotel. 

Here's proof of this kid's resiliency:

The official BIG GIRL!

At bedtime she again wanted me to stay in her room and comfort her. It was sweet watching her "nest" in her bed and fall asleep clutching her big stuffed bear with her new bunny lovie close by. 

BC had night duty and reported that he went in 2 times throughout the night to soothe her, eventually taking her into our guest room to snuggle when she couldn't get back to sleep.

Yesterday was day #2 without her pacis, and I am happy to report that this little lady didn't cry ONCE at nap or bed time! In fact, at bed time- when she usually runs into her room to grab both pacis- she made a start toward her bed, stopped (very evidently thinking through the fact that those pacis weren't quite the same) and happily sat in my lap to read books without them.

I am so proud of Iyla Gracie- as this was definitely one of the HARDEST transitions we've had to do. There is a part of me that wants to keep her a baby forever- and giving up this last link to her babyhood proved to be hard on both of us.

That being said, no matter what, she WILL always be my baby girl… just now without her paci teeth. ; )