"Wonder Twin powers, activate!"
"Hmm, my superpowers appear to be broken. Maybe it's because I don't actually have a twin..."
Then she wanted me to take a picture of her mouth, and put on this lovely face-only-a-mother-could-love.
(Don't mind her non-matching outfit... sometimes we get lazy at bedtime and instead of changing her into a full set of pajamas, we just put pajama pants on her and leave on whatever shirt she had on during the day. Slacker Parents R Us.)
OK, now for the "real" entry...
Ari has started being "weird" about bedtime. She's been able to climb out of her crib for a while--when it first started happening, I braced myself for a battle, but she continued her good sleeping habits, staying contently in her crib and falling right to sleep.
But in the past couple weeks, she's been getting out of her crib nearly every night. It first started as we'd tuck her in--she'd ask, "Leave door open?" and we'd gently reply that we needed to shut her door (hey, it's a small apartment). This seemed to bother her, and we wondered if her getting out of bed was simply her way of "defying" us--of opening the door anyway. (For the record, she has a decent nightlight, so I don't think it's a "scared of the dark" issue.) But when we commanded her to get back into bed, she would start the whining/crying/moaning bit, especially if we were near enough to shut the door, too. We tried leaving the door open, to see if that would appease her, but she would still get out of bed and cry. So we went for just ignoring her. And then we'd usually end up finding her later like this:
So we started to compromise, by leaving her door partially open and then shutting it later when she was asleep. Then, gradually, she seemed to be OK with having her door shut, and would start asking, "Leave door shut?"
Now, in the past few days, things have changed again. Oh, she's still getting out of bed. But when we catch her, she doesn't whine or complain--she simply crawls back into her crib. And then usually she'll get right back out again. But she's stealthy about it. For example, last night... I put her to bed, and no less than 5 minutes later, I heard her door creak open. "Ari, get back in bed," I told her. She closed the door, and (I assumed) got back in bed. I went into the bedroom to work out, and when I came out about an hour later, her door was open, and she was asleep on the floor. I moved her to her crib--she stirred a little, but seemed mostly out of it, so I was sure she was asleep.
However, a few hours later, when I went upstairs to go to bed for the night, I found her like this:
Notice her Belle doll beside her? Every time she gets out of bed, she brings Belle and that Taggies blanket with her--and carefully covers up Belle. And apparently, now she's decided she needs a blanket of her own--and I have to say, she did a pretty good job covering herself up.
Tony's initial thought was that she's just experimenting with the fact that she can get out of bed (and the baby gate across her door keeps her from going any farther). We both wondered if maybe it was a game--but we were both pretty stern with her, and she was never giggly or mischevious about it. Then I pointed out that she's only started doing this since we got back from the cruise. I wondered out loud to him, "Maybe she's feeling insecure about us leaving her. So she gets out of bed, opens her door so she can hear us, and lays in the doorway so she can be as close to us as possible."
That last possibility is the one that makes me do things like this... After finding her asleep on the floor for the last time last night, we both went against our better judgment and went into her room to tuck her in. "Daddy sing," she said softly, and Tony obliged, while I crouched beside him, stroking her cheek and crying silently. (Oh, hush, it's PMS.) When we were done, we both tiptoed out of her room and into ours.
"I am beat," Tony said, and I assumed he meant he was tired, until he added, "That little girl has got me totally wrapped around her finger."
I smiled. "You're just now realizing that? I could have told you that a long time ago."
3 comments:
Love the pics of her hand and mouth.
Sleeping issues. Ari is now about the same age as Olyvia was when she started that. And is still doing it and we're very stern with her and it's followed by discipline after several times of putting her back in bed. The only thing with Olyvia is that she doesn't fall asleep like Ari does on the floor. Olyvia just gets into things. lol
I'm sure it's a phase that we'll pass for both of us.
Love that wacky face! I guess it's a face an auntie can love too ;)
Yeah, I've got no solid, valid theories about her new bedtime stuff, cause I'm not at that phase yet. I do like your thought though, about it being just after the cruise and she might feel insecure. It makes sense, cause you were gone longer than ever from her, so she might just need that extra lovin' you guys were giving to her. My other thought was that maybe it's time for a big girl bed. Now I know a toddler bed would make it even easier for her to get out, but maybe it would be an incentive to stay in bed? Like she's a big girl and doesn't need a crib, and she needs to sleep in it like other big girls do. I don't know, but there's my two cents that's worth more like a hill of beans :)
Hmm, I like both your and Mary's ideas on Ari's new sleeping habit. I have to say, though, that she looks too adorable on that floor, all "covererd" in her blanket and Belle all cozy-looking next to her. What a good little mommy she is!
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