September 11, 2007
Life has been really hard for me lately. I decided last Friday night to let Tegan start crying it out when she would wake up in the night. There is no reason a 6 month old needs to wake up 3 times at night and I desperately want to sleep for longer than 3 hours at a time, so I read this book and just did it. It is getting better, but she is still waking up and crying. Last night, it was only once, which was awesome and made me think maybe we are getting there. But the night before, she was awake twice, the last time from 4 am to 5 am and I had to get up at 5:15 for work. And I can’t sleep when she is crying. I lay there, praying she will stop and will soothe herself back to sleep. I know once she is doing it, it will be well worth it for the both of us, but it is hard and I am tired.
Secondly, my allergies are killing me. Claritin is not cutting it any more. I need to go to the doctor. Yesterday it was all in my sinuses and I felt awful. Today was better, but I am so tired of my throat itching, ears itching, nose being stuffy/runny/itchy. I need to take care of it.
And lastly, today was the first day of potty training using this book. I borrowed it from some friends who have potty trained their three children using it and it worked perfectly for all three of them. I read it twice. Shane read it. We bought a ton of snacks and drinks. Ethan started off a little slow, but by mid morning he had taken himself to the potty to pee twice and actually took himself to the potty to poop once. Never happened like that before. I was ecstatic. I cried a little. Then, he stopped doing it. 5 pairs of Diego pants later, here we are. No nap today either. We were asking him every 5 minutes “are your pants dry?” Yes, yes, yes, but then he would have an accident. No attempts to even try to make it to the potty. By the evening, I was just prompting him into the bathroom again. I am bummed. I feel like I failed. I know it is the first day, but I really wanted him to get it. We have been trying for a while and he just doesn’t want to be bothered to take time out of his playing to go to the potty. I thought this might be it. He definitely gets it, I just don’t think he cares. I don’t know. I haven’t given up. He is in bed right now, in Diego pants and I know that I could very well be up at 2 am changing his bed or in the morning if not then, but we committed to no more diapers, so this is it. I am just praying that he will miraculously be dry and will have decided that tomorrow he will do it and we will have a better day. I lose my patience and take it all so personally. I guess I will just start over tomorrow. He will get it eventually, I know. But it is time and I want him to get it now (in less than a day:)
I think I just need to go to bed.
Comments
Grammie:
Sweet dreams! Hope the sheets are dry in the morning! Will you get him up before you go to bed to pee? That’s what we did, and no drinks after 6:00 I think. We have all gone through this, and it will happen eventually.
September 11, 2007 10:32 PM
Tisra:
Grammie is right- we have all gone through this! Doesn’t make it easier, I know.
September 12, 2007 5:21 AM
Jen:
I’ll tell you what we did, and hopefully you’ll get a glimpse of hope from it! Leah liked to get up and party for a couple of hours every night and she’d only go to sleep if I nursed her until she was out. I knew she needed to learn how to sleep on her own so we started “baby torture nighttime ritual” and would let her cry for increasing increments each night. She finally figured it out and if she woke up, she’d find something to entertain herself in her room and didn’t wake us…until she figured out how to climb out of her crib and open her babyproofed door (but that wasn’t until she turned 3). As far as potty training, Trey knew what to do, we bribed him with all sorts of things. Finally, I got a feed and wet doll and Trey was in charge of making sure baby got to the potty. If I’ve said this all before, sorry, it seems like I have. We took one Saturday and stripped him down to nothing but a t-shirt. We gave him something to drink every 15 minutes. We’d ask him to feed the baby her water and ask him if he thought she needed to go. After saying no a few times, he said yes, put her on the potty and watched her go. We made a big deal out of baby peeing on the potty and asked if he wanted to go too. He said no the first couple of times but eventually said yes and that was that. I had a friend with the same problem with her son. I let her borrow the baby and voila! One weekend and no more diapers. Hope you can find something that helps. =)
September 12, 2007 1:05 PM
erika:
No accidents so far today, but I have been forcing him to pee. We spent the last hour before naptime in the bathroom again, and he peed and pooped pretty much on his own, mostly because he wanted a treat. We’ll see. I am still having a rough time, though-Tegan was awake three times last night and I sneezed this morning and gave myself a stiff neck. I am pathetic. Thanks for the encouragement and the advice:)
September 12, 2007 1:35 PM
Danielle:
Erika, I feel like we are going through the same thing. The boys are almost one and they still get up about 3 times apiece to nurse. I am so over it and at times I think I will lose it. I have tried everything too and I’m not sure if they are getting enough to eat or are teething really badly but I’ve done everything short of letting them cry it out. I’m not ready to deal with two screaming babies(I’m chicken but I just can’t do it). Last night I put Johnny to bed and he woke up every 15 minutes just screaming.I think it’s the teeth at first and then they keep waking up to be comforted. Keep us posted and know that we’re all in this together and your not alone! Even though I know not getting enough sleep is the worst.
September 12, 2007 3:33 PM
krista:
So, I read your post last night but could not think of anything encouraging to say. Sorry :( I am glad that you have so many other friends with more encouraging words. I did pray and I will continue too. You are doing an awesome job though! You are one of the best Moms I know. You have very smart, adorable, engaging kids who have amazingly sweet hearts and when all else is done that is what is most important. Keep up the good work!
September 12, 2007 4:09 PM
erika:
Thanks, Krista. You are all of those things too and I admire your mothering skillz.
I will keep you posted, Danielle. It’s true-we have all been through this and it will pass.
We will make it:)
September 12, 2007 7:53 PM