A New Decade

Wow! Where has the time gone?? 2010. Shocking.

It is a big year for me... I turn 40 this year!! How did that happen??

Anyway - Alex is now 8 months old and I only have 4 short months left on my parental leave. I have enjoyed this blogging trial, but am finding it difficult to make time for it and also do those things I 'keep meaning to do' before going back to work.

So, sadly, this will be my last post.

I was about to write that I might get back to it when I return to work... 8-) I'm sure I'll have even more time then!

Happy parenting!

Conquering the 5am Wake-up

A morning person I am not...

Well, I am these days, but not by choice. Ever since I had Owen, sleeping in past 7am is a rare treat.

For the first few years of his life he woke up between 5:00 and 5:30am every day.

I don't remember now if we ever really tried to change that, other than trying to adjust his bedtime. We just accepted that was when he woke up and hoped that one day he would grow out of the habit.

At some point he started sleeping in until 6 or 6:30am. And while this may seem unreasonably early to many people, Nick is always awake before 6am anyway, so we have just adjusted our lives to be early risers.

I was hoping that Alex would not be a 5am baby... but she is.

This time, however, I have been making efforts to change it and it has worked, but then something will happen and we have to start all over again.

I had her sleeping until 6am and then we went to Toronto and it took weeks to get her sleeping in again. Then daylight savings happened, and we had to recalibrate, again. Now she has started sleeping through the night and she has started waking at 5am AGAIN....

I think a few things are contributing to this. For some reason her afternoon nap has shortened. She is often awake around 2pm. And she rarely falls asleep for a 3rd nap anymore, which means that it is hard to keep her awake past 5:30pm and she is likely over-tired even then. As Dr. Weissbluth says, when a baby is over-tired they will wake more and sleep shorter.

So.... my challenge is how do I fix this?

I have been ignoring her until 6am. Occasionally she falls back to sleep, but usually just babbles and fusses.

But I think the real issue is her bedtime. She is sleeping 12 hours straight. It is hard to complain about that... So, if her bedtime was 6pm I would think she might sleep until 6am.

So the solution must be in getting her afternoon nap to end closer to 3pm so that she can stay awake until 6pm without becoming too over-tired. Or to try to get that 3rd nap in there.

I guess I will work on that.

I think I will keep a sleep log for awhile to see if I can spot any trends that will help.

Sleep Training for Mommy

I have to say I am incredibly frustrated with myself right now. Alex is consistently sleeping through the night now (5:30-6pm to 5:30-6am) and so I should be feeling well rested, right?

That would be the case if I actually slept all night!

I wake up at least twice a night, around the times when Alex used to wake up. Sometime around midnight and sometime around 4am I roll over, look at the clock, listen for the kids, maybe take a peek at the video monitor... then try to fall back to sleep. The midnight time is easy, but I rarely fall back to sleep after 4am.

I lie there cursing myself for not sleeping... Then I fall asleep right before Alex or Owen wake up.... ugh!!!!

Is there a sleep training program for Mommies??

What's That in Her Mouth?

I must admit, I was never overly concerned with dirt when Owen was a baby either, but I think my standards have dropped even more with Alex.

I do remember once walking down the street pushing Owen in his stroller when some lady stopped me and said "your baby is chewing on a leaf...". I thought to myself, can he choke on it? No. Is it poisonous? No. Is it keeping him (a stroller hating baby) happy? Yes. Oh well... he could be putting worse things in his mouth.

But I think I would have drawn the line at dirty shoes with Owen. This is one of Alex's favourite things to chew on. She sits by the front door, where there tends to be a messy pile of shoes and boots, sorts through them, and chews on them.

Does it buy me time to get the dishes in the dishwasher? Read a book with Owen? Go to the bathroom? Oh well... she could be putting worse things in her mouth.

So imagine my thrill to come across evidence that this is actually good for her!!

Apparently a long-term study has found that constant attention to cleanliness depresses a developing immune system, which can lead to cardiovascular problems in kids later in life.

I was going to wash the floors tomorrow... but I wouldn't want to do long-term damage to my kids... maybe we'll play instead.

My Quirky Boy

Owen is a bit quirky about using him in examples.

I'm not sure how this started, but Owen does not like it if you refer to him when you are trying to explain something with an example.

Let me explain... with an example:

This morning we were practicing his address (which he knows) and his phone number (which we are working on). I told him that this is useful information because if he ever got lost he could give that information to someone who could help him, like a police officer.

He said that the police officer would take him to the station and put his address into the computer and then he would be able to bring Owen home (yes, we use Google maps a lot). Then he added, "but he wouldn't put me in jail, right?"

I assured him that wouldn't happen. Police only put people who do bad things in jail.

Then I thought about it and realized that Owen sometimes does 'bad' things and doubted that he could understand that there is a difference between him misbehaving and what a criminal might do. So, I added that children don't go to jail even if they do something bad. The police officer would simply tell the child's parents and the parents would have to deal with it.

I could tell by his facial expression that he was not following me, so I gave him this example:

"Let's say you did something bad and a police officer saw you. They would bring you home and tell...." Owen yelled for me to STOP. "Don't use me as an example, Mama. I don't like that. Use Justine (a 6 year-old neighbour)."

So, I had to start over using Justine instead of him as the misbehaving child.

This is not the first time he has done this. Anytime the example is negative in any way, I am not allowed to use him.

I guess just the thought of him being bad or getting lost or getting hurt is too much for him.

Quirky!

OOTMOB

Out Of The Mouths Of Babes - OOTMOB

I have been keeping a journal for Owen since before he was born. It contains details of what he is doing at the time I am writing in it, as well as details of my and Nick's lives. I plan to give it to him if and when he becomes a father himself (not sure when I will give it to him if he chooses not to become one...).

At the back of the journal I have been recording the funny things he says. Like yesterday when he saw a bra on my dresser and said "Oh Mama! I see your booby trap!". That kept me giggling to myself for the rest of the day.

Raspberry Kids has an OOTMOB contest. If you subscribe to their newsletter, you can send in something funny your child has said for a chance to win a $25 gift card at the online store. I sent Owen's in yesterday.

They also have a very cool journal "My Quotable Kid" made specifically for recording unforgettable quotes.

We think we will remember these things forever... but sadly, many get lost over the years.

Decisions I Hope Never to Have to Make

Here is a terrible news item about a father who had to choose between saving his drowning wife or son.

Heart breaking.