Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Can you really put a price on love? (The stuffed, trademarked kind?)

Blegh, waiting for the phone to ring, blegh.

In other news - meaning I'm totally hitting you up for advice - any thoughts on getting this kid to sleep in? This morning he was up at 5:20 am. While this is an improvement on yesterday's 5:12, it's still not enough to calm my cranks. He goes to bed between 6:30 and 7 pm, wakes up at the aforementioned ridiculousness, naps from 10:30 for 2-3 hours. We've tried the 15 minute inching thing that all the books talk about. Won't fly. Is it just an age thing? He'll sleep later as he gets older? Or do I just need to suck it up and go to bed at 9?

Not much else going on 'round these parts. The boy is a toddling FIEND which is awesome. We still haven't heard from the Early Intervention people. Apparently they have to mail the results, which seems like a waste of a (now more expensive) stamp. Can't they just call? Or better yet, when they called to say they would be mailing the results, COULDN'T THEY HAVE JUST TOLD ME THEN? Jeezub.

In other, other news:

I don't have pink eye. I think it was allergies.

I discovered the world's best chocolate chip cookie recipe and I'm happy to share.

I just spent $60 on a giant stuffed Winnie the Pooh and it was worth every overpriced penny.

We can't afford to buy an apartment. Probably should have thought about that before buying that bear.

I've decided that summer clothes suck. Too old for shorts, too hot for jeans, too active for dresses. Got any favorite shops? Point me in a direction, peeps.

I'm waiting for my awesome neighbors to show up. They're going to babysit the boy while I lie about my love of air fresheners for a focus group.

I'm also waiting for the phone to ring. Did I mention?

9 comments:

elisava said...

m'kay, i'm not trying to be the asshole here, but if baby goes to sleep at 6:30/7:00pm, i would think that 5/5:30amish would be the right time to wake up.

although WE would love to spend 12 hours in bed, can you really expect him too? and he's so little with a tiny tummy, he'll be waken up by hunger and thrist if nothing else.

my advice... move the naps forward in the day so he hits bed a little later. try just a half hour/ fifteen minutes every week... with the final goal being a later bedtime. i'm not suggesting that he stay up all evening, and so robbing you of ANY time to yourself or with hubby, maybe just an hour or so.

i know you have had sleep issues in the past, so i am seriously not trying to piss you off. just keep fighting the good fight!

Bern said...

I'd have to agree with elisava. It seems like you are going to have to slide everything forward an hour or so to get him to sleep later. It might get ugly for a bit....Colin is my early riser. For a while he was sleeping in (almost made us late for school since the kids are my alarm clock), but now he is back to 6:46 (to be precise). Which I can't complain about (but I do!). On the clothing front, I hate to say it, but I shop at Target. I'm always there anyway, and the stuff is cheap (which is great because I don't feel guilty when I get paint, dirt, mud, bubble juice and other assorted detritus on me). I also like Old Navy (cheap). I'm opting for longish skirts and dresses, and Bermuda shorts (less is more in thigh world).

Good luck with the waiting. I feel for you! Thinking good thoughts!

PS I read Stargirl.It was sweet!

Ali said...

E - I hear ya. His hours of night sleep are totally reasonable. Trick comes with our inability to move the naps forward, which would then push nighttime forward. We've tried the 15 minute thing with no luck. Like Bern's boy, he's got a serious internal clock. We'd love him to down at 7 but he will not, not, not do it, inching of naps be damned! I guess we just have to shut up and nut up until he gets older...

EBPitcher said...

And so where is the recipe? I'm all about the cookies!

pursuedbyabear said...

Suck it up momma. I've been going to bed at, sigh, 8! for the past half year. Eventually they change their own damn clock around when the darn well please thank you very much. Also, when his nap is shorter he'll sleep more at night. Also, I think 6:30 is too early at his age, but who the hell am I? 7:30 to bed might work better, that is bath at 7pm, read books, lights off at 7:30. Might buy you more in the am. ALSO... oi, I don't know what your sleeping arrangements are, but if you bring him in to bed with you in the am he'll stay down or at least lie there for a bit. But then you may end up with him in your bed... mine sleeps in my bed ALL night now... but he doesn't wake up at 5:30 any more....

pursuedbyabear said...

PS-

Cookie's please.

Tor said...

Cookie recipe: YES PLEASE!!

summer clothes:
There's a reason alot of mums wear capris despite them being unflattering to most shapes.
Not as hot as pants, as innapropriate as shorts and unlike dresses/skirts you can still safely squat.
They look DREADFUL on me (short thick legs and no ankles) but beats dripping sweat in jeans (took me a long while to realise that tho, despite being a "comfort trumps fashion" kinda gal).
If you have decent legs then you could also try those wraparound tie-front&back thai/hippy pants that are loose with an overlapping slit all the way up the sides. Airy, not constricting of movement, and no inner-thigh sweaty rubbing like from skirts. You will flash leg when you squat tho. I wear them at home but not out LOL. (oh I don't mean the fisherman ones. they are like capris in the unflattering, AND still let your thighs rub together with their bagginess)

sleep:
10-11hrs overnight and 2-3hr nap (totalling around 13hrs a day, so if they sleep 10hrs they nap 3, sleep 11 nap 2, sleep 12 then u have to fight for a 45min nap) seems normal to me too for this age. From my mothers group most kids this ageish seem to be having 7:30 bedtimes and their mums consider 6:30 a sleep-in (the horror) and only get about a 2hr nap on a good day.

We, however, do 9:30pm-7:30am (and a 3hr after-lunch nap) and kinda always have. His dad doesn't get home til 7:30 so we always had a "late for babies" bedtime for him else they'd never see each other. I much prefer having baby up "late" when I am usually awake anyway than have him wake me up early. I am so not a morning person.

Regarding changing it, personally I'd try and do it quickly in big chunks, not slowly, but that's because my kid is fairly resilient regarding being kept awake longer so YMMV. One day I'd just try and keep him up an hour longer before that first nap. Give him early lunch before he goes down. Then hopefully the after-nap awake period will be the same length as usual but result in a later bedtime because he woke up from it later. Whether that will then result in a later wake-time the next morning depends on if his wake time is triggered by number of hours asleep or by something external (sunlight, birds, bus going past etc). If it's an external trigger then either find a way to stop it reaching him (blockouts, white noise all night) or change the time even LATER (2hrs instead of 1) so he'd be heavier asleep when the trigger occurred and sleep thru it. If he just has a magic internal clock then I have no ideas on how to combat that. Maybe in that case it's easier to change your bedtimes and hope he outgrows it soon.

Well that's all I have. Dunno if any of that is actually helpful or relevant to you.

Tor said...

Sorry Ali, i missed your comment, prolly cos i was taking so long typing my novel.
internal clock? i think u'll have to suck it up. I doubt we could change my kids bedtime earlier if we wanted to.

Ali said...

Firstly, awesome advice everyone. Good commiseration.

Second: COOKIES! Will post a separate entry tomorrow.