I’m going to blame Sophia for my not blogging for a few weeks. I know. I know, “Sure, blame the poor kid.” Well it is her fault. I usually get my down time in the evening after she goes to bed, but for the last three weeks, she has held screaming sessions in her crib for hours after lights out time. I’ve tried to switch my quiet time to the morning before she gets up, but instead of sleeping in the darling angel has also began to wake up an hour earlier. Due to the lack of sleep, I’ve been catching up at her nap times which have been unaffected so far. Yay for naps!
Bed time for the midget is eight. She usually goes down without much fuss. Normally she will stay up for up to two hours talking to herself and hitting the walls with her feet. For the last three weeks, she has gone to bed and lay quietly for an hour, then start crying, and then screaming as if something is killing her with a dull spoon. Why a spoon? Because it’s DULL, you twit. It’ll hurt more. Sophia screams until eleven or midnight and then wakes up at six thirty. It’s been hell!
The first couple times it happened I assumed that she had been asleep and woke from a nightmare. I didn’t *rush* to her rescue but did calmly go in, pick her up and rock with her. Her screaming would stop as soon as she was picked up and she would lay her head on my shoulder. I sat with her for a few minutes and then put her back to bed. She would remain quiet for ten or fifteen minutes and then the lamenting and gnashing of teeth would begin again.
She now has all her toddler teeth, so we don’t think it’s teething. It could be growing pains, but generally, those don’t go on EVERY night for weeks. Kurt thought maybe she’s been getting too much sleep with her two to three hour naps and started putting her to bed at nine. It worked the first night, but I think that was just a fluke. After a couple weeks of these antics, something had to give and she would eventually have to make up for the lost sleep. I’m still waiting. The next night she went to bed at nine and presumably to sleep. Screaming commenced at midnight and lasted until four in the morning. I was not amused.
We’ve had some very hot sunny days around here and our bedrooms are on the third floor. On the hot days we turn a fan on in her room and have tried that to combination with a cool bath before bed. That hasn’t been a consistent success either. The only other thing I can think of is that she’s vying for night time attention. The most she gets anymore is a stern, “Sophia GO TO SLEEP” through the door. Stubborn little shit. This will end eventually, right?
July 20th, 2009 at 8:15 am
Thank you
July 20th, 2009 at 8:22 am
Hahaha. Chloe too has been waking up a few times a night and screaming and crying. And that little bugger has air conditioning so I’m not sure what she’s getting at, lol. My favorite new behavior is what she does everytime she wants something that she can’t have like climbing up on the table to tap dance and harass the rabbit. This new behavior includes here going “noooooooo” from 0-60 in 2 seconds, falling to the ground dramatically, plopping her chest on the floor, spreading out her arms, and sobbing uncontrollably. Sobbing will immediately cease and desist if she is given her way. So I know she’s just trying to manipulate things to get her way. I’ve taken to walking over the crying bearskin run and saying “there, there” as I go about my business of being the meanest mommy in the world. hehe
July 20th, 2009 at 10:54 pm
No Erica, she will do this till she turns twelve. Then the screaming will occur during the day…Sorry
Erica Reply:
July 28th, 2009 at 7:21 am
G-Man – ACK! Don’t tell me that!
July 21st, 2009 at 9:37 am
Ugh. That sounds just awful. And I totally feel your pain (we’ve been having sleep issues here, too).
It will end eventually. And hopefully? Very soon!
Allison´s last blog ..Sometimes People Surprise You
Erica Reply:
July 28th, 2009 at 7:24 am
Allison – In some ways it’s nice to know I’m not alone in this, but I want my sweet little sleep angel back.