Priya and Auralee are taking ballet/tap classes on Monday afternoons. A couple of weeks ago, one of our neighbors gave us two pairs of tap shoes that her girls had outgrown. The smaller size fit Auralee perfectly, and I thought Priya's fit well until she said her prayers that night and asked Heavenly Father to bless her tap shoes to get bigger so they did not pinch her toes anymore. After she finished, I asked her if her shoes were too small. When she said yes, I suggested we buy her new tap shoes that fit better. "But mom," she said, "don't you want to see if my prayer worked?" Well...yes, of course I do. Uh, now what?
Whenever I put Auralee in her bed without the other kids around, she asks me to draw animals on her back. I describe the animal as I'm drawing it, and she guesses what it is. Usually, she's pretty sharp. But a couple of nights ago, I drew a zebra on her back. I was careful to leave the telling detail--the black and white stripes--to the end. This is the conversation that ensued:
Me: Can you guess what it is?
Auralee: A llama?
Me: Do llamas have black and white stripes?
Auralee: Um, they have pink and white stripes.
Me: Well, this animal has black and white stripes.
Auralee: Well, llamas are pink.
Me: What animal has black and white stripes?
Auralee: Llamas are white.
Me: What animal has black and white stripes?
Auralee: Some llamas are brown.
Me: You're right, it's a llama!
I guess it's better to check with her and find out what animal she's fixating on before trying to draw the wrong animal on her back.
In other news, I'm writing this post at 2:30 a.m. as I listen to Elijah cry himself back to sleep. I know it's a long shot, but I wouldn't mind some advice in the comments section about this kid. All the books say that the key to good baby sleep is making sure he falls asleep on his own in his crib. Well, he has been doing that for almost his entire life, and it's not making any difference at all. Most of his naps are crappy catnaps that last less than an hour. He's pretty cranky most of the day because of it. And at night, he still wakes at least once, sometimes twice, even though he weighs twenty pounds and eats like a horse during the day. Sometimes I let him cry, but on many occasions, he can scream in his crib for an hour before going to sleep, and then he wakes up again in a couple of hours anyway. Other times, like tonight, for instance, he wakes up, I nurse him, and he still screams his way back to sleep. I don't get it. What am I doing wrong? My sleep deprived brain is out of ideas, but I sure would like to get a good night's sleep before the year's out.
4 comments:
Have you considered that he may be hurting and that is why he won't sleep well or for very long? All of my kids got reflux at about one month old and when the doctor put them on a small dose of Zantac twice a day, it really seemed to help. It sounds like he never sleeps well when he is asleep so maybe something hurts him. All my kids grew out of the reflux at about 7 months. You could also try propping up his head so he isn't lying flat. That seems to help too.
It seems like letting him cry himself to sleep until he learns it on his own shouldn't be a long process. They learn that pretty quickly.
I feel for you in the sleep deprivation department. I think that has been the hardest part of motherhood for me - especially when there is more than one child. You can't even take a nap. There is a lot to be said for a well-rested mother. If I had known, I would have stocked up when I was in college instead of pulling all those late-night/early-morning-ers. Flash light duty, ugh. And I still can't speak French :)
I think you should let your wife get up with him....works great for me.... by the way if you are stuggling to see you can use my glasses they work wonderfully... that was a little Ben humor mixed with some Stephen Covey 7 habits I love entertaining myself.
I think you should let your wife get up with him....works great for me.... by the way if you are stuggling to see you can use my glasses they work wonderfully... that was a little Ben humor mixed with some Stephen Covey 7 habits I love entertaining myself.
It sounds like your baby boy and my baby boy must've been good friends before they were born--our little Clarke has been a hellish sleeper nearly this first whole year also. No advice though--we've done everything too. He is finally getting better though I don't know why.
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