Sleep Separation, Night 3

Tonight was a definite improvement over last night! Kallie only got out of bed 17 times--and I realize that's more than twice what she did the first night--but that's still 12 times less than last night. And, it only took about 20-25 minutes for her to settle tonight. Plus, she didn't throw anything off her bed. I think she's catching on!

I do have to note, though, that she tried a couple of new tactics tonight. The first several times that she got off her bed, she covered her eyes as soon as her feet touched the floor. I think she thought that by doing so, I wouldn't see her--and therefore, wouldn't put her back in bed. When that didn't work, she tried burrowing, feet first, under her comforter down to the foot of her bed. Then, she would toss the covers back and slip out of bed, then cover her eyes. Once again, it didn't work and she finally gave up on it. However, a couple of times before she finally gave up, she would yell, "NOOOOOOO! Nooooooooo!" when I put her back in bed. I'm getting pretty good at stifling laughs now, thank goodness!

This may be a long and arduous journey--but hopefully it will just get better from here!

Mee-Mo Bishy

Lately, there has been a commercial on every morning about the Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy. Of course, since Finding Nemo came out, it seems that every fish-related business has cashed in on the "Nemo" and "Dori" type fish. LPA is no exception. Every time the commercial shows, Kallie shouts, "Mee-Mo bishy!" (We're still working on the "f" sound...) So, it was completely natural that today, when Kallie got up grumpy from her nap and still needed some "sit still quiet time" that she selected Mee-Mo as the movie of choice. It's not my favorite movie, but listening to Mee-Mo for even 15 minutes is much more bearable than listening to a whining 2-year old for the same amount of time.

As I did the dishes, Mee-Mo began. I listened to the happenings and ever so cynically decided that such stories could NEVER happen--after all I'd seen Planet Earth and now know what really happens in the ocean. But, that got me thinking. I love watching Planet Earth. Ryan and I ended up getting the 5-disc Planet Earth set for our anniversary gift because we enjoy it so much. Every time I watch it, I cannot help but think about a loving God who created all of these beautiful and amazing plants and animals in motion. And, He did it all for US. He wanted us to be happy and enjoy our surroundings--and so all of the tiny details, all of the intriguing animals, every amazing plant is just for us. It made me think of the verse in the Book of Mormon where Alma is "contending" with Korihor and he says, "The scriptures are laid before thee, yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which do move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator." (Alma 30:44) It certainly refreshed my view of my surroundings. Isn't it strange how a little Mee-Mo can make you think of God?

Gotta Love A Good Deal

I just went to Mervyn's to buy Kallie's winter clothes. I like to stock up when they have their 50% off sale on their Sprockets clothes. I find that they're cute and durable, so hopefully, they will last through a few kids. Anyway--when I was looking at the sale information on-line, I happened to find a 20% off coupon that didn't have any "not for use with other sales" kinds of restrictions on it. So, Kallie's winter wardrobe was 70% off! I saved $102.00 and didn't spend anywhere near that much. Especially when Ryan's starting school in a couple of weeks and our spending is going to have to go WAY down, it makes me feel so great to get deals like that!

Sleep Separation, Night 2

Earlier tonight, while I was in the thick of Night Two of the Sleep Separation Technique, I was thinking, "Man, I don't want to bore people with the details of our bedtime struggles with Kallie." And, then I thought, "You know what? It's my blog--and I'm going to write what I want!" So, if reading about our attempts at an easier bedtime are boring you, then stop reading and check back every other day or so for something more interesting. For those of you who are still curious, read on! :)

Before putting Kallie to bed, I thought that she would react one of two ways to the repeated events of last night. Either she would catch on and stay in her bed and I would be out of there sooner. Or, she would catch on and push the limits to see how serious I really am about this new technique. Kallie, being the smart, curious child that she is decided to push the limits. She is, after all, a little scientist by nature. Aren't all 2-year olds?

Tonight, I put her back in bed TWENTY-NINE times! For those of you who are following the saga, that's just over 4 times as much as I put her back in bed last night. She also jumped on her bed three different times and tried to make me think she was going to look out the window, (she gave up on that after she realized it wasn't catching my attention). She threw her pillow on the floor 3 times. The first two times, she jumped out of bed and picked it up before I put her back in bed. The third time, I grabbed the pillow and threw it into the hall before she could get it. She cried for her pillow for a little bit, but hopefully she'll learn not to throw her pillow out of bed anymore. It was after this that she finally told me, "Go away mommy! Go see daddy!" a couple of times. I seriously had to bite my lip to keep from laughing! Once agian, it took about 30 minutes for her to fall asleep. Now, I'm wondering how long it will take for the behavior and time to peak before it will start to improve. I'll keep you posted...

SUPERNANNY...

...Is my HERO! I used to love watching her show, but got out of the habit because it came on right when we were having Family Home Evening. But, now that Kallie is involved in our FHE's, we have it earlier and it's a lot shorter--so I'm getting back in the Supernanny groove. What I seriously wouldn't give to know what she knows about dealing with kids. I'm just glad she's sharing some of the wealth and providing me with a few tools to deal with my 2-year old.

Along with all of the fabulous tantrums Kallie has been throwing the past few weeks, she has also decided that she doesn't like staying in bed. We always thought she was such a good sleeper--but it turns out she appeared to be so because she was contained. Lately, it seems like getting in and out of bed are a new sport in our home. We have tried what seemed like everything to get her to stay...from not talking to her and not making eye contact when we put her back in bed, to taking away her stuffed animals one by one, to sternly telling her that it's bed time and she needed to go to sleep. NOTHING WORKED!! So, I finally remembered a Supernanny episode that I saw a long time ago about getting your kid to go to sleep. As a last ditch effort, I looked it up on her website, http://www.supernanny.com/.

Tonight was the first night that we tried what is officially called the "Sleep Separation Technique." You do the nightly bedtime routine and then sit in their bedroom in the dark so they can see your profile but aren't making eye contact and wait for them to fall asleep. When they get all the way out of bed, you pick them up and put them back in, still no talking and no eye contact. Each night you do the technique, you move closer and closer to the door until you no longer have to sit and wait for them to stay in bed.

It took Kallie 30 minutes to fall asleep. She got out of bed 7 times, threw her 5 stuffed animals, blanket, and pillow on the floor, (she managed to pick up a few without getting out of bed--the rest will have to wait until tomorrow), provided 3 "sessions" of poking mommy--either with her hands or feet, stood on her bed to open her blinds and look out the window, and pulled a pair of pants out of the drawer on the bottom of her bed. And, she tried to fake me out more times than I can count by dangling her legs over the side of the bed and kicking them to see if she'd get a reaction. But, I was strong! I didn't even flinch, (except the times when she was making me smile--and I had to try to keep a straight face), and she finally got the hint.

Kallie's a pretty smart cookie...so hopefully that means she'll catch on quickly. But, part of me knows that because she's so smart, it may take a little longer since she's going to try every trick she can imagine. So, Supernanny, I hope this works!!

You never know what you'll find at a yard sale...

Every first Saturday of the month at 8 a.m. during June, July, and August, Wymount has a "yard sale." They designate an area for everyone to display their junk and see what other people are willing to buy. Since we moved, we realized there were several things sitting in storage or in our house that we weren't going to use. OK--and I'll be honest, while some of it was junk, most of it wasn't. So, at 7:45, I started trucking our stuff across the street.

There were a lot of people that came by--and we sold a lot of stuff. In fact, we made $80 selling mostly things we got for free. I have to admit, we did spend a little on other people's junk. We bought Kallie 2 books and a Clifford ABC Bingo game, (which she LOVES), for $0.70! You can't beat that! I also bought one of those toys where you push beads around on metal "tracks," (for lack of a better word), from one side to the other, and I got a barely used breadmaker.

But, I think the greatest find of the yard sale was reconnecting with a friend I haven't seen since high school! Janae Hunt was a sophomore when I was a senior and she, her sister, and I used to hang out at the seminary building after school while we were waiting for our rides. She was setting her stuff up next to mine when we realized that we knew each other. We spent the time between "shoppers" catching up on the past 10 years, which was so fun. It's always amazing what you can find during a Saturday morning yard sale!

Recovery

I feel like this weekend, with all of Kallie's tantrums and injuries completely wore me out! On top of it all, Sunday we went to my parents' ward for my neice's baby blessing. Kallie did NOT want to come home--instead, she wanted to go straight to Maa-Maw's house to play with her cousins and hang out with Maa-Maw. Even reminding her that we were going over after naptime for dinner didn't help much. And, because she was so excited that we were going, she didn't want to take a nap. Ryan and I both desperately needed naps...so, you can imagine how wonderful and relaxing our Sunday afternoon was. :)

But, today has been a good day. My friend called around one to invite us to go to the pool with her and her kids. I was a little apprehensive to take my girls to the swimming pool without Ryan there to help supervise Kallie, (especially when Whitney needed me), but it was so much fun! Whitney was definitely not a fan of the water...she started fussing the minute I put her in. So, she spent a lot of time in my arms or chilling in the stroller. Kallie is like a little fish when she gets in the water. She can't get enough swimming time! She had a blast with her friends and I enjoyed hanging out with the other moms.

Tantrum, etc., Part II

Let me start off by saying I HATE the tantrum phase. We usually try to ignore them, but, obviously, from what happened to Kallie last night, even that isn't going her safe when she throws them.

So--on to part two of this whole tantrum saga. (I really hope this is the last installment!!) Today, we were finishing up our shopping at Wal-Mart when Kallie decided that she wanted to go look at something in the opposite direction from where we were heading. She had been a pretty good little girl all the way through the store, holding Ryan's hand and walking everywhere because she insisted that she was a big girl and wasn't going to sit in the cart. So, when she decided to go the opposite direction, Ryan was still holding her hand. Once again, because Kallie did not get what she wanted, she threw her weight down on the fabulously gross Wal-Mart cheap-tile-covered cement floor. Only, this time, she didn't hit her face. Ryan felt a distinct POP! in her wrist and her right arm was rendered useless.

She fussed and complained a little and we even bribed her with candy, telling her that she needed to hold the m&m's in her right hand--just so we could see what the damage was. It didn't matter what we tried, she would NOT move her arm/hand. So, after unsuccessfully trying to call Kallie's pediatrician (again!), and unsuccessfully trying to find an urgent care place Ryan's friend told us about, we headed over to the emergency room to have them fix Kallie's arm. I was pretty sure it was just the Nurse Maid elbow that I had heard so much about--but I wanted to make sure that was all it was. After a 2 hour wait, we finally got into a room...and about 20 minutes later, the Dr. showed up. He examined her arm and confirmed that it was probably Nurse Maid elbow and then left again for a few minutes. When he came back, we laid Kallie on the table and I hugged her tight while he twisted and prodded her little arm back into place. Once it was back in, it took Kallie about 3 minutes before she started using it like normal again. Thank goodness it wasn't anything worse than that. It was a bummer that we spent 3 hours at the hospital tonight, but well worth knowing that she was OK.

I will admit, I feel somewhat at fault in this situation. Before you jump all over me and say that I had nothing to do with it, let me explain. Last night, after her little frenulum incident, I was so worried that her little lip was going to look funny for the rest of her life. So, I prayed that it would be OK and that it wouldn't affect her appearance. (I know, I know, DUMB! But, I'm a mom--what can I say?) Tonight, while we were waiting at the hospital, a mom from Moab, UT who was also in the waiting room started talking to me. Her 16-year old daughter had broken yet another bone at a cheerleading camp in Ogden, so she met her daughter at the hospital in Provo to get it taken care of. As we talked, I told her about the great frenulum incident from the night before and showed her Kallie's lip. She told me that the exact same thing happened to one of her kids! And, her EMT husband assured her at the time that it was nothing to worry about because it grows back. (She bolstered this assurance by telling me that her kid's frenulum had grown back also!) What a blessing for me to know that! Heavenly Father sure answers our prayers in strange ways...but I am so grateful that He has been able to provide these blessings and reassurances throughout these awful tantrum ordeals.

Tantrum, Tantrum, Tantrum!

Kallie has most certainly been two in attitude and personality for a while now. She owns the toddler catch-phrase, "I do it mysewf!" As part of the attitude, she has decided that throwing tantrums are a good way to tell mom and dad that she does NOT like the way things are going--especially when she's tired.

Today was no different--except I was babysitting my friend's kids during naptime, so I let Kallie miss her nap. I pretty much knew I was asking for trouble. Except for a few little "sharing" squabbles, she did great while her friends were here. As soon as they left, she turned into a crying mess. I got her to take a short nap before dinner, but the damage had already been done...or had it?

After dinner, Ryan started Kallie on her normal bedtime routine. Of course, the crying, complaining, and tantrums were not the usual tonight. Every little request and comment we made was met with a seismic response. Then, it was time stop brushing her teeth and head into her bedroom. To let us know that she did NOT like this course of events, she threw herself on the linoleum floor in our hallway. I went to pick her up and carry her into her room and realized she was gushing blood from somewhere around her nose or mouth. She knew something had gone wrong with the tantrum because she was telling me so!

As I cleaned her up, I realized that she had somehow split her frenulum, (the little piece of skin that connects your gum and lips). It wasn't completely split, just more so than it ever has been for Kallie. I have never encountered a split frenulum before! I put pressure on it with a damp paper towel to stop the bleeding. I called our pediatrician's office to find out what needed to happen and they said they generally don't put stitches in the mouth. And, since it stopped bleeding right when I called them, they didn't have us come in.

Taking a good look at it, neither Ryan nor I know how in the world Kallie did what she did! Her little frenulum was attached a bit lower than what I've seen, but now there's no problem with that. The only thing that makes me sad is that the frenulum affects how the lips are when you smile--it kind of holds them in place. So, now, my sweet little Kallie's smile is a bit different tonight than it was earlier today. I just hope it heals well and that, after a while, you won't even be able to tell it happened!

UNDER CONSTRUCTION!

I'm trying to figure out how to make my blog look like I want it to. In the mean time, things seem to be very out of order. Hopefully, it won't take too long for me to get it all figured out!