Rough Patch
For the last few days I've been going through a hard time with Daisy. I'd been thinking, "Maybe it's finally here-- the terrible twos I've heard so much about." I honestly thought I'd bypassed them, though if experience has taught me anything, it's that you should never grow too complacent about any particular phase your child seems to be in. Anyway... for the last couple days, she's been quite a bit more bellicose than I've ever seen her, and giving us lots of "No." She wants to wear her fairy costume from Halloween, or her bathing suit, pretty much at all times. And she wants to wear them OUTDOORS. With no coat, sweater, or protective garment of any kind. Yesterday, both Mark and I struggled mightily to get her into clothes, and we finally gave up on the sweater point and let her go outside coatless, thinking as soon as she got cold, she'd cave in and ask for the sweater. Nope. I think that girl was willing to freeze rather than take back her decision NOT TO WEAR COATS.
In general, it just feels like we've been getting more whining, shrieking, and "Nooooo!" in the last couple days. She even worked herself up to the point where her eyes were welling with tears (about having to take off her bathing suit and put on clothes to go outside).
Then, today. It's been pretty much like the terrible twos are gone and she's back to her old self-- cheerful and obliging. Could it be that she slept later this morning? She's been waking up around 6:45, but today she slept till 7:45 and didn't require attention till 8. Maybe this wasn't the terrible twos after all, but just sleep deprivation? One thing I noticed yesterday is that she was tired when she woke up. She kept yawning, all morning. Now, this frustrates me. If she is tired, why won't she sleep later? Why does she wake up, and walk around all cranky, rather than sleep as much as she obviously needs? She seems to be a different person when well rested. But I have no idea how I can possibly *make* her sleep later. Bedtime is fine-- we do our rituals (granted, they're kind of long), but we're able to put her down awake in her crib, say goodnight, and leave. It's not like we're rocking her to sleep or anything. Sometimes, she talks in her crib for up to an hour before falling asleep, though. Again-- what can I do about that? I can make her go to bed earlier, but I can't make her fall asleep until she's ready. So, that brings up diet, and admittedly, she's been more sugared than usual because she got some Easter candy. But I can't say these periods where she talks in her crib for an hour correspond to times she's had a lot of sugar. Sometimes (self-servingly, I suppose), I think she has a hard time falling asleep because she's intelligent-- her neurons are firing, and it's hard to get into a dull-brained, placid state in order to fall asleep. This has been a problem for me all my life. Not that I'm so intelligent (ha), but I do find that it's hard to get my thoughts to stop coming when I'm trying to fall asleep at night, and one thought leads to the next thought till I have: insomnia.
I'm not so sure what the point of this post is. I want to say something about my own helplessness and frustration when Daisy is being difficult, but that's starting to seem like a different post. So I'll just say: I am not too happy with myself about how I've coped with Daisy's hard days. I don't yell or scream or do anything cruel; I don't kick into gear with a nice, solid, untraumatic form of discipline; I just seem to shut down.
In general, it just feels like we've been getting more whining, shrieking, and "Nooooo!" in the last couple days. She even worked herself up to the point where her eyes were welling with tears (about having to take off her bathing suit and put on clothes to go outside).
Then, today. It's been pretty much like the terrible twos are gone and she's back to her old self-- cheerful and obliging. Could it be that she slept later this morning? She's been waking up around 6:45, but today she slept till 7:45 and didn't require attention till 8. Maybe this wasn't the terrible twos after all, but just sleep deprivation? One thing I noticed yesterday is that she was tired when she woke up. She kept yawning, all morning. Now, this frustrates me. If she is tired, why won't she sleep later? Why does she wake up, and walk around all cranky, rather than sleep as much as she obviously needs? She seems to be a different person when well rested. But I have no idea how I can possibly *make* her sleep later. Bedtime is fine-- we do our rituals (granted, they're kind of long), but we're able to put her down awake in her crib, say goodnight, and leave. It's not like we're rocking her to sleep or anything. Sometimes, she talks in her crib for up to an hour before falling asleep, though. Again-- what can I do about that? I can make her go to bed earlier, but I can't make her fall asleep until she's ready. So, that brings up diet, and admittedly, she's been more sugared than usual because she got some Easter candy. But I can't say these periods where she talks in her crib for an hour correspond to times she's had a lot of sugar. Sometimes (self-servingly, I suppose), I think she has a hard time falling asleep because she's intelligent-- her neurons are firing, and it's hard to get into a dull-brained, placid state in order to fall asleep. This has been a problem for me all my life. Not that I'm so intelligent (ha), but I do find that it's hard to get my thoughts to stop coming when I'm trying to fall asleep at night, and one thought leads to the next thought till I have: insomnia.
I'm not so sure what the point of this post is. I want to say something about my own helplessness and frustration when Daisy is being difficult, but that's starting to seem like a different post. So I'll just say: I am not too happy with myself about how I've coped with Daisy's hard days. I don't yell or scream or do anything cruel; I don't kick into gear with a nice, solid, untraumatic form of discipline; I just seem to shut down.
posted by Sarah Goss at 2:14 PM
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