"If I concentrate really hard, the lady with the bowl of warm water will go away."- If only 'twer that easy.
So operation NO NEW DEALS has had a glaring set back. Last night the schedule went all to hell. Late getting back from work, picking her up; Jed still in D.C. I could sense the makings of disaster.
Still, bath time should have been a cinch. She didn't require her hair to be washed. It was just a token scrub in warm suds. But she decided to surprise me and wash her own hair. Oh was she pleased with herself. She massaged away at the back of her head like a professional. Before I could stammer a protest, she had created enough foamy goodness there to hide a small treasure trove of toys.
I was truly impressed. But also truly dismayed, knowing that such a frothy mess would have to be rinsed -- the not-so-much-fun part of the shampooing process. It couldn't be avoided, and it threw her into a tizzy.
All roads lead to bedtime, and this was going to block it.
To make matters worse, her teachers at school had given me a book (that I tried to hide from her) called "Mommy, I Want To Sleep in Your Bed," or something or other, that I felt was akin to looking her in the eyes while she's playing happily with safe, respectable toys and instructing her 'Not to pull down the drapes.'
Not only was she NOT thinking of pulling down the drapes, but now that I've told her it's a possible diversion from a tea party with Panda, it seems like an idea that's more fun.
As I suspected, the book taught her the exact phrase -- "But, MOMMY, I WANNA SLEEP in YOOOOOOOOOOOOORR BED!" -- that awoke me at 2:30 in the morning.
I gave in. I was too tired to fight about it.
7 comments:
Is that the cutest picture...or what?
I feel your pain. Jaylene is five and only recently has slept in her own bed. The changing color princess wand light helps. As does the house tent placed on top of the bed. But as I'm going to bed early these days, she wants to fall asleep with me and have her father carry her to bed later.
One thing we did earlier was print up a chart with clip art of all the things we did before bed, brush teeth, pick up toys, drink water etc. We slipped it in a page protector and referred to it every night. There were three boxes at the bottom, and if she got out of bed - for any reason - an "x" went in a box with a dry erase marker. Three x's and the next day she didn't get a prize (we had sort of an advent calendar box with tiny toys in it and she got to open one box every night as part of her bedtime routine. bribery works!)
About the bath, we only were able to banish the trials associated with hair washing after she took a whole summer of swim lessons. It took that long for her to become "at one" with the water. Before that we used a funny sort of hat that kept the soap suds out of her eyes.
Best of luck...
Sometimes it's best to give in . . . especially when you are tired!
I agree with Julie in that ocassionally you have to resort to bribery. With Hannah (7) and Jacob (5) that's the only way we can get them to help out consistently. They each have their posterboad-sized chart and four jobs that they are responsible for doing. Each time they do the job, they get a sticker. When the chart is completely full, they get a prize. It's up to them to to determine how quickly they will earn what they want. You could do something similar for Ittybit (but on a smaller scale). Reward her with a sticker if she takes a bath without incident or if she sleeps in her own bed. And if she earns all her stickers, she gets a prize.
The swimming also helps. Although my kids have always LOVED bathtime and will take several a day (no kidding!), I have met other parents at swimming time who have said the lessons helped their kids get over water issues.
Best of luck!
I should stop sleeping with Maizie now will I still have a chance. But she is such a sweet cuddly bug and I sleep so much better.
If all else fails, consider her teenager years when she wants you no where near her bedroom. Only ten more years...
My son slept with me off and on til he was 6 when the sleepovers started. As much as I hated it cause my sleep was always disrupted...I miss it now. Enjoy her and it while it lasts.
Inspired by your No New Deals attempt, I started one myself with potty training. Well, maybe I offer a little more leeway because I'm afraid of turning him off to it completely, but the idea is the same.
Yeah, not working as swimmingly as I'd hoped. "Gabe, do you have to potty?" "No, Mama. I never potty." "Sure you do, and I'd like you to try now." "No, Mama!" and he runs and hides. I think he's afraid of falling in. He will only try if he has a small seat to sit on. And I have a potty training book and when he first saw the little boy sitting on the potty, he pointed and said, "He's not falling in Mama. Right?"
Oy. Please tell me this resolves itself. Or I'm going to be saving for a pampers allowance for when Gabe goes to college.
Oh Andrea. I really feel for you here. I didn't push Annabel on the potty training stuff, because I thought it would just drive me crazy and that she'd train herself, which she did a few months shy of her third birthday.
A few things I did:
1.) Bought a potty seat that fits ontop of the toilet (the potty chair only interested for 10 minutes).
2.) Bought fun soaps she could wash with.
3.) Instituted bare bum evenings, whereby she could run around nekked. Turns out she didn't want to pee on the floor.
Otherwise, I chilled about the potty.
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