So my new "theory" is that Lili's bedtime temper tantrums stem from not enough Mommy time. Obviously I have no clue what is really going on in the head of my little bundle of craziness, but that's my best guess at this point. I talked to lots of friends today and found out all sorts of fun tips and things to try. It's hard to say what is going to work and what won't and there's no way I can implement them all at once...so tonight I started with a few simple things that I knew I could do.
1. Lili spent some time outdoors right when we got home tonight. We gave her a chance to ride her bike...took her for a short stroller walk...and let her explore the backyard for awhile.
2. We had dinner a little later than normal, which allowed us to all eat together.
3. We kept the sequence of events for her bedtime routine the same, but made sure that we didn't skip the bath tonight.
4. Will was fed after bath and then we laid him down for the night FIRST (some nights she would go down first or they would go down at the same time).
5. Mommy spent one-on-one time with Lili snuggling on the couch, watching Barney and then reading books.
6. We replenished the batteries in her Ocean Wonders Aquarium and made sure to hit play as we laid her down, so she would have music and lights to soothe her to sleep.
7. We gave her several reminders throughout her bedtime routine to let her know that "night-night" was coming.
She fussed a little as I laid her down, but I made sure to tell her that it was time to go "night-night" and that in the morning she and Mama would play together. She started to get up as I left the room, but then I heard her lay back down and go right to sleep. I'm sure there will be more nights like last night to come, but hopefully I can implement some of the other tips then and avoid them as much as possible! She is such a sweetie and I feel like we have very few hours in the day to spend together, so I hate when they are filled with crying and frustration. Tonight is exactly how I like to see my little girl!
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1 comment:
Good luck! We put Henri to bed first, we put him in his crib and walk away. Then put Carter to bed. Most nights it is just me, so putting them to bed at the same time is not an option.
For carter, part of our ritual is to talk about what fun things are coming tomorrow. What helps is his preschool teachers e-mail what they are going to do each day. I remind him that in order to do the fun thing that is tomorrow, we need to get sleep so we feel good and happy the next day.
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