Remember when I wrote the post about getting Rowan to sleep in her own bed? Well, then we moved and we had to start all over again. This time it was harder and it took more time. I can finally say we did it though. We have crossed the finish line in what felt like the marathon of sleep training. It’s not perfect but she is staying in bed, falling asleep on her own and sleeping through the night. There isn’t much more we could ask for well, except longer naps but I won’t push it. I haven’t done one of these posts in a while so here are our ups & downs from the past few weeks…
UPS:
1. Potty Training. We are basically there. She is fully trained at home in undies and clothes as long as there are no real distractions (aka friends over). We have yet to venture out on errands with no diaper. We still do diapers for naps and bedtime though. I had some girlfriends over yesterday for lunch and Rowan’s little buddies were there as well. There was lots of playing out in the yard and running in and out of the house. Let’s just say we had 2 accidents, but 1 successful acknowledgment about having to go in time. It’s a good start and I’ve really had no frustrations over the whole process yet. I know she is still young, so we have been taking it slow and just working on it casually at home.
2. Her manners have gotten so good lately. She says “please” and “thank you” on command now without having to be asked. She is getting really good at saying she is “sorry” when need be too. I hope this will keep up as she gets older. I think its important to be a polite little kid.
3. The fact that if you say “I Love you” to her she walks around saying “I lub you too Mommy, I lub you too”. Hello melted heart on the floor! It is just about the best thing ever.
4. She is starting to eat more vegetables! Yay! She does the best with raw veggies, so I cut up lots and give them to her with some hummus. She likes dipping them.
5. She is a talking machine. I think she can basically say anything now a days. She copies everything we say so we have to be careful with our tone and how we say things. It is so fun to listen to her string sentences together. Her little questions crack me up and she repeats things like a hundred times.
DOWNS:
1. The short naps are killing me. I guess maybe she is just like me. I have never really needed a lot of sleep. I like sleep but I function pretty well without it. She sleeps from 9pm-7:30am every night pretty much and I am lucky if I get a 45 minute nap from her. It is barely enough time to get anything done.
2. Errands. I feel like over her 2 year life it has been a roller coaster with going out and doing errands. Some months we are up and things are easy and she enjoys being in the cart and getting pushed around and other times it is pure torture. We have hit the pure torture stage again. She refuses to sit in the carts anymore and just yells how she wants to “walk”. The only thing is she is still to young to just follow along beside me. She makes mad dashes when she sees things that spark her interest. Just like every stage I know this one will pass as she gets older.
3. We are still working out what kind of discipline works best for her. I don’t think there is any straight forward answer. I have talked to lots of parents and they have all told me what works for one of their kids didn’t work for the others. We are just trying to meet her needs and her personality. It is tough though. For the most part she is a pretty good listener. As much a 2 year old can be.
With anything in life there will always be ups & downs. Parenting is no exception. I try to keep them all in perspective and move forward from each day focusing on the ups and the joy that comes from it all. And when I can’t I go to bed knowing tomorrow will be a new day. Ha!
What were your ups & downs this week (parenting or not)?