Like mother like daughter...using up cell minutes

Yesterday Ella did not nap but was mostly quiet or talking happily for almost 2 hours in her crib. I kept hearing her say things like "Hello! How are you?" and thought maybe she was developing an imaginary friend. So, I eventually went in to get her and discovered that my cell phone had been in her crib the whole time! She was sitting there happily talking on it. I checked the history-she made 15 calls! One of them was to Poison Control!! I would have loved to hear that conversation. She CRACKS me up!!

Outing with GG

My sister, Ella, and I had a fun visit to see my grandmother yesterday. Ella let GG teach her some choreography and they danced together for quite a while! Ella loves running around GG's house from interesting "toy" to toy. We went out after that and we had a 45 min wait at Outback. Ella did pretty well...I was kinda surprised we didn't leave regretting it. Go Ella! She hasn't napped in 10 days which is HORRIBLE but her behavior has been better the last couple days. Chris has been out of town this whole time so I'm hoping that once things are back to "normal" she'll start sleeping again. Here are some pics from last night.


GG and Ella cheesing it up

GG, Ella (not looking at the camera this time-but she is getting better at posing), and Marissa

Reading while we waited for our table at the restaurant

Momentous Occassion

To give you an idea of what kind of week it's been I just want to note that Ella fell asleep in the car this evening. This may not sound like a big deal but I kid you not, it's been close to a year since this has happened. I won't go into all of the sordid details but clearly, the last few days have been crazy enough that my child, the no-car-sleeper, fell asleep. Pray we make it through the next few days and that the back-talking, no napping, waking-up-at-night-child who has moved in with me gives back sweet little, sleeps-15hrs-a-day Ella. I miss her.

Sleep Update (for my future reference)

So, it's been long enough that I feel confident that Ella's refusing-to-sleep phase is over. I prayed very specifically for God to show me what I should do to help Ella sleep. A friend reminded me that God knows Ella and what she needs better than I do so why not ask Him for a specific answer? That very day I picked up a SuperNanny book Chris bought me when I was pregnant and it described exactly what Ella was doing (whining, screaming, calling us and then waiting for a response and then getting louder and crying more until we give in and come take her out of bed). It confirmed exactly what I'd been feeling-that this is one of the earliest forms of manipulation kids learn-wearing you down until they get what they want. I knew it felt wrong to let her "win" this battle every night and the Super Nanny's advice gave me the confidence to stand my ground. So, we followed the Nanny's "controlled crying" technique.

1.Talk up the going to bed process and all the steps involved during the day
2.Go through her normal bedtime routine
3.Lay her down in her bed and tell her she needs to put her head down on her pillow and close her eyes and go to sleep. Leave the room.
4.Go back in every 10 min, then 15, then 20 but don't pick her up just remind her that you're still here but that she needs to lay down and go to sleep

So, it was rough to hear her cry but waiting for the timer to go off made it easier to handle. Plus we'd pretty much ruled out that she was in pain or anything. The first night it took an hour before she went to sleep but that's less than 1/2 the time it had been taking for almost 2 weeks!! The next day at her nap it took 30 minutes. The next night she cried for 5 minutes and was out! That was over a week ago and now she's going down like the old days with no crying for naps and bedtime. PRAISE the LORD!!!

Sleep Alert....

Chris was out of town for two of the last three weeks and Ella is getting 4 teeth. Those things combined have caused some never before seen insanity in our house. For 4 nights in a row Ella refused to lay down in her bed and only screamed hysterically until we came in and held her (and even then continued to cry sometimes). The only way to get her to sleep was to let her fall asleep on us and then sneak her into bed which took hours some nights. She napped once during that time and went to bed close to 11pm for 3 nights which means she was sleep deprived and not so nice to deal with. She was back to her normal self after a weekend away and went down just fine last night and this afternoon. Then, I met a friend for coffee tonight and Chris tried to put her to bed and it took an hour and a half. I still have high hopes that that was a fluke and she's back on the going-to-sleep-like-a-sane-child-bandwagon. I hate to even speak of these things but I want to have it in writing so when I'm freaking out if this happens with another child in the future I can look back at this blog and remember that 1)It was wretched and 2)It did end.
I came to a conclusion today when a friend and fellow-toddler mom texted me to ask "Why isn't it bed time yet and why don't I have a full time maid?" (I ask myself those questions relatively often). Basically, toddlerhood is kicking my butt. I LOVED the baby stage but watching my previously angelic-seeming child chase a kid today while holding him by the neck of his shirt in order to snatch his toy away is really no fun. She really is a good girl most of the time but I'm scared of what I'll be apologizing to other parents for in the future as the terrible two's set in. It just comes down my perceived loss of control over her behavior...having control at all is a misconception anyway so it's just a matter of getting on the same page as God about this and realizing Ella is His and He is in control and has been all along. Ok, I promise the next post will be on a lighter note.