Floored

Last night was the first time in three weeks that Bunny spent the night in her bed. She hasn't taken refuge in our bed, although she's asked. No, she has been sleeping on her floor.

I'm not really sure how it all started. I think it was an attempt to stave off going to bed. She said she wanted to lay on the floor. Since we couldn't make her sleep we agreed. When she fell asleep we carried her to her bed. We didn't think anything of it.

But then she only wanted to sleep on the floor. We had to bring her animals and blankets to the floor. If we tried to put her in her bed after she fell asleep she would wake in the middle of the night and cry. She would only sleep on the floor, no bed for her.

So we let it go. We figured it was just a phase. But we asked why she didn't want to sleep in her bed. We received answers such as "my bed isn't comfortable" or "the floor is more cozy". When we asked what we could do to make her bed nicer, she was vague. I think she liked the floor. She thought of it as an adventure.

This past weekend she slept in a bed with no fuss. Granted I was in the bed with her and it was a hotel bed, but it was a bed nonetheless. We thought she would go to her own bed when we got home. We thought wrong. She wanted the floor again.

We didn't know if this was a problem. If it was bad to sleep on the floor. It didn't seem to bother her at all. She slept soundly, through the night. So we didn't worry too much. Well we worried a little but not as much as we would have if she wasn't sleeping.

Finally, Bubs came up with an idea. He asked if she would like it if we made her bed into a tent. She was thrilled at the idea. But how would we do it? I found a sheer curtain that I was going to put up in her room (before I realized that sheer curtains in a kid's room was a bad idea). So we draped this over one edge of her bed (she has a little day bed so there are three rails). This worked. She and her bunnies camped out in that end of the bed and she slept there all night long.

I don't know if it will continue or if we'll be back to camping out on the floor. But for one night I felt better.

Jealousy

Jealousy is a strange emotion. Sometimes it just takes over. You can be going through a normal day, minding your own business and all of a sudden you see something or someone out of the corner of your eye and the green eyed monster hits.

You want what they have. You want to be where they are. You want to be who they are.

Jealousy reminds you of what you don't have. Sure you can probably be happy without it. You've been happy without it until now. But then you are reminded of that thing or that person that you desire and you feel like you cannot possibly live without it.

When I see scenes like this I am so jealous.



I want to be them, sleeping in the sun without a care in the world.

Sleep

When you become a parent, sleep is like a long lost friend. You promise to keep in touch but you never really get together. You have great memories of solid a solid night sleep. And who can forget all the times you slept until noon in college. But they are only memories.

Bunny is a pretty good sleeper so we've been very lucky. But with the advent of potty training has come a new sleep issue, waking up at all hours of the night to use the potty. "Mommy I have to use the potty" can come at any time 11:00 pm, 2:00 am, 4:00 am. And of course after its over its hard to fall back asleep.

We've also encountered another problem. If Bunny doesn't wake up in time and actually goes in her diaper, she freaks out. Diapers are not for peeing in anymore, they are only for peace of mind. If she has an "accident" she sobs uncontrollably. While this is a good sign that she is potty trained, it is a bad sign for sleeping.

We had one such accident the other night. Daddy went in to comfort her to no avail. She was still wailing after 30 minutes. So we decided to bring her into our bed. We've never really done this but we were desperate. Everyone needed sleep and this seemed like a good option. It wasn't

When she arrived in our room, she flung herself into my arms and continued to cry. She finally managed to settle down and began to fall asleep. It warmed my heart to see her peaceful, to feel her heart beating as she curled up against me. But then my arm fell asleep. When she finally rolled off of my arm, I got to look at the most perfect face in the world looking so angelic in sleep. Until the most perfect foot in the world kicked me in the ribs. Hard. Twice.

And then there was the polar bear. She started mumbling about something or other. Then she sat up, looked me straight in the eyes and asked "why aren't the polar bears in the house, momma?" Um, what? Excuse me, polar bears? Oh right, I forgot she talks in her sleep.

Well the polar bears were enough to wake her up and she started tossing and turning and poking and kicking mommy some more. So it was back to her room. "Mommy don't go. Sleep on the floor with me mommy. I'm scared of the dark." And in my sleep deprived state, I agreed. I grabbed blankets and pillows and hunkered down on the floor. Where she proceeded to toss, turn, and kick me some more. Fun.

She finally got in her bed and fell asleep. I guess I did too because I woke up two hours later with an aching back and shoulder. I crawled back to my room for another hour of fitful sleep before being greeted by the cries of "I have to go potty momma" at 6:30.

Warning Do Not Try This At Home

Have you ever been so tired that you felt if you let your head start to nod it would snap off your body, roll out the door, down the street and land in the gutter covered in leaves and dirt? Have you ever been so tired that you thought your head had already done that?

All you can think about in your headless state is sleep. Sleep is the only thing that will cure the headlessness. Nap, you need to nap.

Now what would you do if you, in your headless state, were confronted with a toddler who vehemently dislikes naps. If you shut her in her room while you nap, you know there will be no peace. You've done that before.

Would you decide that the only rational option is to have a slumber party in her room? Would your headless body belive that if you made a game out of sleeping she would sleep? If she saw you sleep that she would sleep and you would awake with your head back on your body?

It seems like such a simple idea. It has worked in the past at nighttime. Somehow laying on the floor with a blanket and pillow makes it easier for her to sleep, easier for you to sleep.

So you grab that blanket and pillow and make a big production out of arranging them on the floor. You both cuddle under the blanket and read some books. Then you lean over and kiss her before "falling asleep."

But as desperately as you want sleep, she desperately wants not to sleep. She runs around the room pulling every book off the shelf. "Read this book, momma." "Read that book, momma." Books are thrown around the room, some land on you.

But you continue to "sleep", hoping against hope that she will fall asleep too. You become a jungle gym. You are climbed on, climbed over, jumped on. It does not feel good.

There are attempts to wake you. "Momma, momma, momma" shouted in an outside voice. "Momma are you sleeping?" whispered as loudly as possible. "Momma, no sleep," whispered quietly from a mouth pressed directly into your ear.

You are covered in kisses to wake you up. You are covered in drool from the kisses.

Thwack, thwack, thwack. The sounds of the glider hitting the wall, over and over again. You make a mental note to move the glider further away from the wall to stop that from happening. But not now. You cannot show weakness now. If your eyes open or you change positions, she will have won. There will be no nap and your head will still be lying in the gutter at the end of the street.

This goes on and on. You don't know how long you've been lying there. But all of a sudden it seems quiet. Has she given up? Have she fallen asleep? Have you fallen asleep? You don't know and you don't want to check and see.

But then you hear it, "Momma, this book has a dinosaur in it." Well, duh. All your books seem to have dinos in them.

At that point, you give up. No one is sleeping today. You open your eyes and see a smiling face three inches from your own. You reach out for the book to read it, glancing at your watch. And then you notice its been an hour and a half. You could not have survived the onslaught for that long, you must have slept. She must have let you sleep.

You tentatively reach up to see if your head is attached to your body again. It is. It may be hanging by a few threads but it is there. You can go on with the day. However, you vow never to try that again.

Like Clockwork

Bunny spent the night at my parents last night. Bubs and I went down to Summerfest where I caught one of my favorite bands. We did it up right and got home very late, which for us usually means 11 but was actually 1 am.

So what happens when I stay out late but don't have to worry about a child waking me up early? I wake myself up early. I woke up at 6:30 am. All on my own. That is just not right.

But I managed to fall back asleep and wake up at 8, which isn't much better but I'll take it.

I need a vacation from my vacation

We just returned from our long weekend in Door County, WI. If you have not been to Door County, I highly recommend going, its beautiful (for those not familiar, Door County is the thumb of Wisconsin). However, if you are driving, you may not want to bring a two year old. Bunny asked for an hour "where's Door County?" (I thought they didn't do "are we there yet?" until much older)

When you go on vacation with a two year old, its not really a vacation. Its more like everyday life only in a different location. Not very relaxing at all.

We did the typical vacation stuff and had fun. But I think there is one thing that will be etched in Bunny's mind forever. Our hotel had a pool which meant she could go swimming everyday. Swimming was not limited to once a week lessons. She was in heaven. She has gotten so comfortable with the water that she has no fear. This is a good thing to be encouraged, you don't want a child to be afraid of the water. But it is also a bad thing because it means you have to watch them like a hawk. She would think nothing of jumping into the pool by herself and going under water, except she can't really swim. So that is bad.

Mommy was not allowed to go to the pool. Because Bubs takes her to swim class, I was told "Mommy no swim" so Mommy no swim. The pool was filled with lots of other children and Bunny made instant friends with a few of the older girls (ages 5 to 7). She is fascinated by older kids and wants to do what they do.

The first night she came back to the room in tears. I looked to Bubs for an explanation, apparently the crying began when her little friend left the pool. Bunny looked at me, sobbing, and said "I miss my best friend." I tell you my heart broke for her because she was truly sad. Of course some of her saddness was explained in the next breath when she said "somebody's tired." So true.

Sleeping was another problem we had. We had rented a two bedroom condo and were going to put Bunny's pack and play in the spare room. She hasn't really slept in one but we weren't worried. But you see Bunny can climb out of the pack and play and did so repeatedly. So each night we had to let her lay on the big bed until she fell asleep at which point we could transfer her to the pack and play. Of course she didn't want to stay in the big bed so one of us had to lay with her until she fell asleep. Fun.

So all in all Bunny had fun on vacation. Bubs and I are planning our anniversary vacation without her so we can have fun.