Parenting wins!

[Deleted]

Share yours too!

I'm afraid I'm going to jinx myself, but I'm too ecstatic not to share. 

I've complained lots lately about DD refusing to go to sleep without me laying in bed with her, and unless she's in a deep, deep sleep and I use my super stealth ninja skills to escape, she flips her shit if I leave too early. Sometimes this took an hour. 

So two Sundays ago, I asked DD why she always wanted me to sleep with her. She said she doesn't like sleeping alone. Fair enough. So I asked her if we took her to pick out a stuffed animal, would she sleep with that instead? She agreed, and said she wanted an elephant. So we let her pick out an elephant on Amazon that night. 

We talked it up all week, that once the elephant came, Mommy wouldn't sleep with her anymore, but her elephant would keep her safe and she could cuddle her if she got sad. 

IT'S WORKING! The first night she was in bed, and as I was leaving started crying. I told her that if she's sad, to snuggle Elephant, and she'll make everything better. She said OK, and that was the last we heard from her. The next morning, she was so excited and telling us how Elephant kept her safe!

It's been a week, so I'm calling it a success!

[Deleted]

Good job! And I love a story that demonstrates that "tough love" is not the only option.

[jenn248]

Nice!

I managed to put DD to bed after only singing one round of songs last night (each "round" consists of Old McDonald, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and ABCs), instead of the usual three or four rounds. Of course, we read the same two books three times each before that...

[game blouses]

DS is in a big boy bed and has been turning his room into an imaginary wonderland. Which, great, but it's time to sleep - and also his little brother sleeps in the room too, and likes to conk out immediately. DS #1 likes to play for at least an hour (loudly) before sleeping, so it's been a conflict.

I got him some special "bed toys" that he can play with quietly, but that he has to stay in bed for. It's working! He plays quietly for about an hour, then settles down and goes to sleep. Yay!

[boxerdog]

I cut up broccoli really small and mixed it in DS' scrambled eggs and he ate it! Woohoo!

[shelbyann]

I taught DD a new game yesterday. The game is called Night Night Mommy. It consists of me lying on her bedroom floor while she covers me in blankets and pats my back. NEW FAVORITE GAME.

[Deleted]

how sweet! This gives me hope.

[niq]

After a regression on teeth brushing, if we put on Caspar Babypanta or Sesame Street music, V will let us brush his teeth for the full two minutes.

[drloretta]

These are all great!

DD has become quite the chef and gardener. She picked carrots and made me a salad last night. And then she made sugar cookies with minimal help. I will for now ignore the fact that she won't actually eat the salad. Baby steps

And her empathy is showing. She told me last week, "Mommy, my little friend didn't get a single award at camp yet. (They get all kinds of certificates for being cool kids) Today she got TWO awards and I'm so proud of her!"

[shortstax]

My 4 year old knows all the words to Uptown Funk. Could be flameful, but he's soooo damn adorable when he sings it.

[eddy]

We are dropping the kids off for an adult weekend. Ultimate parenting win lol. We are going to try to not sprint out of the grandparent's house.

[luv2rn4fun]

Thanks to you lovely ladies and encouraging me to work towards a 2-3-4 schedule, C is finally taking decent naps (for him)! Usually 1:15-1:30 in the morning and another 1-1:30 in the afternoon...and last night he slept 12 hrs (I dream fed him but usually he sleeps a good 11 and sometimes 11.5 lately). I feel like we're finally on a more predictable schedule and can get out and do more things!

[oswin]

Aug 7, 2015 11:07:59 GMT -5 eddy said:

We are dropping the kids off for an adult weekend. Ultimate parenting win lol. We are going to try to not sprint out of the grandparent's house.

Along these lines, DH and I had our first date night since DS was born (2 months ago) last night. Getting out of the house without the kids for 3 hours was bliss.

[cricketwife]

The dentist suggested that I have DS lie down while I brush his teeth because you can see better that way. Well, it used to be a struggle, but now he loves when I brush his teeth! He brings me the toothbrush and just plops down! Who knew?

niq, could be helpful? 

[niq]

Aug 7, 2015 11:42:36 GMT -5 cricketwife said:

The dentist suggested that I have DS lie down while I brush his teeth because you can see better that way. Well, it used to be a struggle, but now he loves when I brush his teeth! He brings me the toothbrush and just plops down! Who knew?

niq, could be helpful? 

Oh, he likes it now -- he will open his mouth while we brush his teeth. And he's gone back to trying to brush them himself a little bit

[NandaB]

Yay everyone! I'm having a tough time. But my kids are dressed and fed and are playing together nicely. So, win?

[dcn]

When we went to a big boy bed Ds would not stay in it. One night I think I put him back in there 20 times. We put a gate up in his doorway and the past few nights we haven't heard a peep from him!

[minzy]

The other day I offered to put on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse for DD1 while I took a shower. She said "well... Maybe after I clean up all these toys," and she proceeded to clean up without complaint. I almost fell over in shock.

DD2 is picking up words - tickle, night night, and stop so far this week. She did a trial hour at preschool the other day and survived it. (Although as soon as I walked in the door, I could hear her screaming "momma momma momma.") :/. Oh well. I got in a nice trail run on the break.

[Deleted]

DS has been getting up in the morning around 6am for over a year, but recently that started to creep back to 5:45 or 5:30am. Ugh. So at MMM's suggestion I bought the 'ok to wake clock' and set it 6am (a realistic wakeup time). It's worked extremely well. We've had it almost a month and he's only woken up before 6 like 1-2 times.

Granted, almost every day I am woken up at 6:01 or 6:02am by DS shouting "MY COCK IS GREEN MOMMY!" No, that's not a typo LOL.