Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Bedtime Breakdowns

The older she gets, the harder it is to get her to sleep. We always had a solid bedtime routine, and when she was younger, she really seemed to enjoy it. Now it’s all just a struggle. The moment our clock strikes bedtime, there’s all kinds of chaos, crying and commotion!

First there is the “stuck to it” phase. For every step in her bedtime routine, Iman doesn’t want to move on. When we head to the toilet, she doesn’t want to get off, when she’s washing her hands… she wants to keep soaping up again and again, when she brushes her teeth, she doesn’t want to stop. Once she’s in the PJ’s, we read to her while she has some milk. I always let her pick out 3 books, as I read; I talk to her about what’s on the page. Its great fun for both of us, and then it should be off to sleep… BUT NOT! During the reading, she’ll ask a million questions. Silly ones like… “Where’s the sun?” (Sun is bright and yellow RIGHT ON TOP OF THE PAGE!!!!!).

Another example: there are two girls looking for fish in the pond…

Iman says: “What are girls doing?”
I say: “looking for fishes in the pond”
Iman says: “Where are fishys”
I say: “In the pond, look right there!” (Pointing to the bright colored fish)
Iman says: “What are girls doing?”


You get the picture.

That’s the first phase. Then there is the “Stalling” phase.

Iman is finally in bed, lights are out. Two minutes later… “Iman want water”. Two minutes after that… “Read other story, please?” (How can you resist that “please”?????) Ok, be strong, be strong.

10 minutes later… “mama!!! Iman need to go toilet”.

AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

Really, there’s no end to it. It usually takes us OVER an hour to get her to sleep. And it’s not that she’s not tired. I make sure she’s had plenty of running around before bedtime. My only hope is that when she’s back in school, she’ll be so tuckered out, that bedtime will be a much awaited event.

I hope.

5 Comments:

At 3:40 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

around an hour is about normal in my house too - then there are good nights and bad nights - you could try and have all the eating and drinking and toileteries all done and out of the way before brushing teeth then read x stories and sing x songs and then when you leae the room stay out of there you need to train yourself sometimes as much as your child but keep the faith!

 
At 6:18 PM, Blogger Lorraine said...

Man, those kids can work us, can't they? How far are you from the start of school? Could be that she's picking up on all energy around preparing for that and she's feeling unsettled because she senses a change coming. It doesn't even mean that the change is a bad one in her view, she's too little to assess it like that. Hang in there...this too shall pass.

 
At 12:11 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

hi
i really enjoy ur blog.although my son is almost 20 months old but a bit younger than ur girl(obviously)but he cant talk so far.which i think is gd in a way.cuz i dont know how i will handle him if he starts demanding verbally.i guess its all v tiring n it helps to read that other ppl r going through the same frustrations of parenthood.

 
At 12:58 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi,
I've been a silent reader for a while now...I think Iman's just adorable, mashAllah.
I'm pregnant with my first child and suddenly can't get enough of bloggers with kids...it's good to know what I'm going to be up against in a few years.
I hope I remember all this stuff then.

 
At 11:29 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey, I thought I'd make an appearance on ur blog and stop being silly and paranoid! lol Yeah funnily enuff i was talking to my health visitor abt the same issues and ive been told that u can do whatever u lyk but when it comes to the 'terribles twos' (as in 2yr olds) u just gotta hold on until they're 3 for a result! lol its quite a long wait id say but seeing as how (mashallah) quickly and beautifully they grow its worth holding on to these days as well...have u tried the bath and story routine? before bed? (not that its been much luck on my side!)
Take care and kisses to Iman
Umi xx

 

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