It’s been AGES since I’ve been on this blog — so long, in fact, that I’d forgotten that I still had it public. I’m encouraged to find some great comments from people, which indicates that the topics I’ve posted about here are valuable to people, so I guess I’ll keep posting and not “hide” the blog.
Where Have I Been?
Since I created the first series of postings about my daughter, I’ve had another child – a son. He’s FAR more difficult with sleep training. The process was gut-wrenching enough with my daughter, but the payoffs were tremendous. Even now, at age 3.5 yrs, she’s a GREAT sleeper. My son, on the other hand, is a whole other story. He’s 19 months now and I’ll go into a series on his sleeping soon, but the short news is that between colic and a number of other issues that are very legitimate to disrupting sleep training, he’s never really gotten into the rhythm. I’m finally adjusting to his needs and, in the process of learning from him, have added to my repertoire of sleep-inducing skills, which I’ll share about here (soon!).
In addition, I’ve started graduate school, which just cranks up the whole game of keeping life in balance. I’d say 90% of the reason I’m managing all of it to the degree that I am (house messy, shower every 3-4-5 days, etc) is that my children DO sleep. If we had the same situation that other families we know of have, we’ve be totally screwed. I can’t imagine living in a world where my young children are up until 8 or 9 at night, not napping and up by 5 or 6 in the morning. NO WAY!!!
In addition to learning how to balance two young children and school, I’ve been figuring out how to consistently make (relatively) healthy meals for my children (that they will eat, not just stare at or throw across the room), as well as myself and my husband. Then, of course, there’s the battle of the bulge… beating back the baby poundage. I mentioned that bit about my son being a poor sleeper, right? Remember all that stuff I wrote about how awful it was while my daughter was first sleep-training and crying? Multiply that fourfold, with a little screecher who escalates his crying from zero to sixty in seconds. How have I coped with it? Eating. Chocolate, ice cream, potato chips, etc. Before my little dude, I swear, I wasn’t much of an emotional eater… These last 19 months have packed on an extra 12 pounds, easily, on top of the baby fat that I never burned off fully between pregnancy.
As time goes by and the children grow, so too do the challenges and rewards! My daughter, while being the most amazing sleeper, and fun and cute and smart and funny… is the most bull-headed little child you ever met. This has been noted as exceptional by her pediatrician and preschool teachers. Everyone tries to assure me (as I’m contemplating throwing my head through a wall) that there is an upside to such a stubborn sprite — that (apparently) obstinance is a quality you want in a daughter by the time the high school rolls around – it makes them more likely to be leaders than followers. Meanwhile, I find myself poring over child discipline books.
So, that’s the catch-up. Hope you’ll keep swinging by!
