Friday, April 24, 2009

rough week

we have had a rough week. we put jackson on his crib mattress on the floor.

the first day for nap, i sat with him in his room. i sat because he would come running out of the room and giggle and play games. he jumped, got on and off his bed, and was a wild man.

my bff, who has worked with more kids than i can count, was my personal coach throughout the whole thing. and i value what she say, because she has the three most well-behaved children i have ever seen. seriously. anywho.

after 4 hours on weds, i had to get up. so we got up and he cheered. literally. that night, he went down in about 15 seconds.

thursday, i bumped the timing back an hour, and there we sat. for 3 hours. no nap. last night he also went out like a light.

today, friday, he messed around on his bed. AND WENT TO SLEEP. i am in shock. shock and awe. and a little bit sad.

a few things that have worked on other kids, that did not work on mine:

laying with your child. he loved it, but it was a no-go.

sitting next to the bed. epic failure.

avoiding eye contact and staring straight ahead. nope.

avoiding eye contact and placing him into the sleeping position, not speaking or giving any attention. all aboard the fail boat!

spanking. nope.

shouting. colossal disappointment.

what worked for us? currency, as nea calls it. jack's favorite form of currency? his binky aka beebee.

when he would flail around like a fish out of water or stand, or jump or whatever bad-ass-kid move he was trying to pull, i told him "no more beebee" and would take it. i would ask if he wanted it and then tell him he had to lay down and go night night.

i would check in on him and when i found him disrupting from sleeping, we would re-discuss the beebee.

and he is sleeping. it took a while to get there, but we did.

next up, potty. yikes.

1 comment:

  1. yay jack! And yay mommy for making it through the long tiring battle!

    Ps...I might make you a liar if I tell the tale of my NINE year old's temper tantrum today. Complete with feet stomping and body flailing.

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