Left Coast Mama » Bed Time

Some Things Aren’t Any Easier the Second Time

Gwen — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 20:21:10 +0000

I am well aware that Quinlan is his own little man and in a lot of ways totally different than his brother. I love that Quinlan share his brother’s sense of curiosity. I am a little less enthused that he shares Aidan’s and let’s face it, mine and Anthony’s, stubbornness and inability to do things on anyone else’s timetable.

His attachement to the soother is another blog post altogether.

With Aidan the big issues were sleep in the beginning, and toilet training. Of course Quinlan came along and there was a regression in any progress we made and I was sure that he would never be trained. One thing that was never a problem, or even a real worry with Aidan was transitioning from the crib to a bed. It happened because we needed to turn the crib into a toddler bed after part or the crib rail broke. He didn’t get out of his bed at all. He went happily to sleep and in the morning he slept late and called for one of us when he wanted to get up. It got to the point that we WANTED him to get out of bed on his own.

Quinlan is being as stubborn about the toilet training as Aidan ever was. I thought in the beginning that he would be a breeze compared to Aidan. Not so, if anything he is more stubborn. Quinlan has a sense of when he goes and he tells us right after or while he is doing his business that he wants a diaper change. He can hold for long periods of time and there are a number of nights when he wakes up dry and then REFUSES to go on the toilet. Anthony had him on the toilet one morning for almost 15 minutes before he let go. I am not sure how to proceed at this point. He doesn’t want big boy underwear and our rental carpets are bad enough without adding a toddler running around naked.

Me Play Drums By Myself!

I am not sure about transitioning Quinlan from the crib to a bed. I think Anthony and I are scared about what may happen, rather than what will happen. Will Quinlan be a monster to put down for a nap or to bed at night? Anthony and I are afraid to try at this point, though we really need to get a move on if we want him in a bed by the time we move, whenever that might actually be. So we are conflicted, do we change the crib to the toddler bed and go for it? Do we keep the crib as an alternative and use the bed under Aidan’s? I have no idea.

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Related: Bed Time, children, milestones, Quinlan, sleep, Toddlers, Toilet Training.

Where is a Sleep Guru When You Need One?

Gwen — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 03:54:06 +0000

When my now 10 month old was only 2 months old he slept like nobody’s business. He would go to sleep around 11 pm and not wake until 5 am, nurse for a bit and go back to sleep for another few hours. I still like between 8 and 9 hours of solid sleep myself, but it was doable. Then somewhere between 5 and 6 months Quinlan decided (well at least his body decided) that it was time to actually start pushing out some teeth. They take forever and come in 1 at a time. They must also hurt like a son-of-a-bitch. At least this is my inference because of the waking and general crankiness. Just so you know, the waking happens between every 1.5 to 3 hours. Quinlan usually gets his biggest chunk of sleep from 7:30 pm till somewhere between 11 pm to 2 am. Unfortunately I hardly get to sleep before 11 pm at the earliest. It is usually closer to 11:30 or midnight.

Quinlan is still not much of a napper unless he is attached to the breast, in the stroller (moving), in the car (also moving) or lying on my lap on the nursing pillow. This is not a good thing either. About the only good thing I took away from the Weissbluth book was figuring out your child’s tiredness signals. At least with this Quinlan shows them much better than Aidan ever did. These signals are what told us that Quinlan needs to be going down to bed at around 6:45-7:00 pm. If we push the time it is harder to get him to nurse to sleep, though Anthony can usually lie down with him and get him over the edge to sleep.

The Good Old Sleeping Days

So with Quinlan waking so many time during the night now Anthony and I are incredibly sleep deprived. I have a hard time getting back to sleep especially if I get up to soothe, feed and generally move Quinlan back to sleep in his crib. I will do this for the first session but after a while Quinlan ends up in the bed with us. Neither Anthony or I sleep well with Quinlan in the bed. He doesn’t sleep for longer periods, we just don’t need to have the extra step of going into the boys’ room to get him. He has started shunning the soother (in the wee hours) and will cry when Anthony tries to soothe him. I am at my wit’s end.

Before we get any comments about this, we don’t want to keep co-sleeping and we have no intention of ever trying Cry It Out ever again. It was horrific for everyone when we tried it the Weissbluth way and didn’t work except to make it that much harder to get Aidan to sleep at all. We will not try it for Quinlan and because we need to have the boys share a room it isn’t something that is at all practical either.

I will be checking out a number of sleep books from the library and some twitter friends have promised to lend me some as well. Watch the blog for updates and reviews of the sleep books and training methods. Maybe there is something we can do with the child who stands up the nanosecond he stirs.

© 2009 Left Coast Mama | Permalink | 4 comments
Related: Bed Time, My Boys, parenting mistakes, Quinlan, sleep, teething.

The New Bedroom

Gwen — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 00:27:56 +0000

As most of you know we are trying to make room for another person to come into the house sometime this fall. In preparation for this we have made room in Aidan’s bedroom and our bedroom for the new baby. Since the closet was really being under (and badly) used, we took off the doors and put them under the stairs. Anthony was a little sceptical about the dresser and freezer going in the closet but it really opens up the room enough to put in the crib and still have enough some room for the rocking chair. The room is still a little crowded but much better than I imagined. Let me know what you think.

The new big blue bed.

He has more room than we do.

The library side under his bed.

The toy and play area under the bed.

The crib is by the window so far.

A better view of the chair and crib side.

Aidan’s side of the room. It is amazing how much the doors on the closet closed off the room.

September, a New Beginning

Gwen — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 05:11:50 +0000

A brand new month and a whole lot of firsts are awaiting my family. Aidan turns three and a half at the end of this month and he starts preschool next week. In the end of the following month I am scheduled (well hopefully) to give birth to our second child, so we are trying to get ready for the new baby as well. With preschool twice a week, swimming lessons twice a week and starting at the end of the month a science exploration class with Anthony, I am hoping that Aidan will have enough of his own stuff to keep him happy and not too jealous when the new baby comes. I am also hoping that having a couple of months to get into a routine will help him to adapt before the baby comes.

This weekend we have spent a lot of time getting the boy’s room ready to share with the baby. A new bed, play area and a moving of furniture in order to make a crowded room for one into a still crowded but usable room for two. The crib is set up and Aidan loves his new bed. He has a place to play and read under his bed. Almost all is set. My real hope is that getting everything ready now will make the transition easier later on. I want Aidan to have the time to process as much as he can before the baby is born.

In the meantime I am looking for some advice on coping with two children and helping to mitigate any jealousy that may arise. If you have any advice please comment or email. Any good books that deal with a new baby in a positive way? I don’t want the I am so jealous I hate the new baby books, but ones that share the excitement and joy of a new brother or sister. If I need to deal with jealousy I can always find books on that later.

For the grandparents and those who may be interested I will take some pictures of the new bad and room setup tomorrow. I will post them tomorrow. I may even try to get some regular posting in here as well as at the Being Savvy Vancouver blog. I am realizing how much my personal blog has been suffering lately.

© 2008 Left Coast Mama | Permalink | One comment
Related: 2nd Pregnancy, Aidan, Anthony, Bed Time, Being Savvy Vancouver.

Overheard

Gwen — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 03:54:17 +0000

When I was resetting Aidan, after I got home from guides tonight, he was very talkative. He didn’t want to be in bed and tried a number of different tactics to get me to let him upstairs again. When he knew for certain that I wasn’t going to let him he said to me “Mommy are you going upstairs to play with my front end loader?”

You would be very proud of me, I didn’t laugh out loud, nor did I say “Yes!” I assured him that I would not play with any of his toys. When I told Anthony he said he would have said “Yes” and done it just to bug him.

What would you have done?