Wednesday, December 14, 2011

night #2 - fail

well, the big bed time plan didn't work tonight because blake ended up not feeling well and went to bed just before chase.  hoping blake is feeling better tomorrow night so that we can try again.  blake has a headache, and guess what ... so do i.  i felt it coming on toward the end of the day at work, and it's been building.  crossing my fingers i will be able to make it through the day tomorrow, and blake too!

tomorrow is a christmas program at chase's school.  i am fortunately able to go.  looking forward to talking to chase's teacher.  one of my possible solutions to this whole sleep and bus dilemma is to have chase join the afternoon class instead.  still a possibility.

my mom had asked me to make her a digital christmas card to send to the people she bought her dog from, and i made that tonight.  i emailed it to her.  one digital project off of my list ... several to go!

take care,
melinda

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

night #1

first of all, i apologize for typing in all lower case letters, but i'm too lazy to use the shift key on the right hand side of my keyboard, and the key on the left hand side is not working.  historically, it will be neat to come back and read this some day, remembering the dumb issues i've had with this keyboard which is less than 2 years old.

bedtime has been a struggle ever since school started in september.  chase is new to going to any type of school, and not only that, but he goes to school in the morning after having previously been "trained" to sleep in due to my husband's work schedule.  the idea was to get him closer to the school schedule he will have in kindergarten, and to give him something to do while his dad sleeps in from working until the wee hours of the morning.

well, chase does not go to bed well.  he claims to be afraid of the dark.  it may very well be true, but based on some of his behaviors, i really think it is more of an attention thing than anything.  he seems to enjoy the negative attention it brings him from both his siblings, and me.

tonight, though ... i am hoping that i've finally figured out a way to deal with it.  in the past, i've sent all three kids to bed at the same time. i sent chase to bed first tonight.  chase likes to turn the bedroom light on when he's going to bed, which has always been an issue for poor blake who sleeps on the top bunk and has it shining in his face.  with chase being on the bottom, the light doesn't shine in his face, and so he isn't bothered by it.  for whatever reason, the two nightlights in their room are not enough light for him.  anyway, he was asleep within 15-20 minutes after he was sent to bed.  Hallelujah and Amen!!! (Yes, I broke out the right-shift key for that bit there!)  while he was falling asleep, i did the dishes with the older two kids.  they weren't happy about it because we had a lot to do, but i surprised them with a few oreos and some milk afterward as a reward.  bedtime was supposed to immediately follow that for both blake and julia, but apparently blake hadn't finished a math assignment -- there were some corrections to make on a  previous in-class assignment -- and so he stayed up to do that.  julia was asleep within 15 minutes, and blake went to bed last, and seems to have gone to sleep well also.

you have no idea how excited i was by the quiet bedtime process tonight.  i have been at my wits end and near tears with frustration over kids coming out of their rooms, lights being turned on, and that one child who just plain would not stay in bed.  chase went to bed without a fuss tonight.  wow.

so ... so far the new plan seems to be working.  the test will be to see if he makes it in his bed all night long, but this has promise!!!!

please let this work,
a tired mommy,
melinda