Yeesh.
I should be counting my blessings, it's really not that bad. But at the end of the day, after the boys have run me ragged and gone crazy once daddy gets home, I just don't want to see them again once putting them to bed. I don't want to and ya know what... that's okay. I need the evening to recharge and remember how much I like them. Seriously though by the end of the night you can usually find me scrolling through my #peterashton and #calvinscotthall on instagram gushing about how cute they are to Todd.
Anyway. Rewind to putting the boys to bed... I want to shut their door and I want it to stay shut and I want them to go to sleep. Is that too much to ask? Haha I know some of you more experienced mothers are like, "You're kidding me right? HAHAHA." But hey I can dream, no? Recently Peter has had a big problem staying in his bed. We cover all of the bases during the bedtime routine. The last things we have him to is use the potty, get a drink, get in bed, done. He doesn't need anything else. Nothing.
Wrong!
He needs two more drinks and has about an 1/8 tsp. more urine he needs to get rid of and he needs us to kill all of the bugs behind Calvin's crib. Haha! I laugh now but at night when I'm done with him for the day it's definintely not funny. It's the time of day when I have the least amount of patience. I should also mention that he opens doors so loudly. Like you'd think he was trying to break the door down. All of this noise and action keeps Calvin up and that's a big part of the problem.
And then there's the punishments. "If you get out of bed again you don't get a treat tomorrow." or "If you get out bed one more time we won't sing songs before naptime tomorrow." Well a few nights aago was so bad that he lost it all. Morning cartoons, treats, his stuffed animals at bedtime, songs, and even books! I hate taking books away but we got desperate. It worked and he stayed in bed. Until 6:00am. Talk about sleeping in! You think I'm kidding haha.
Once he was finally asleep Todd and I folded laundry while watching a few episodes of Gilmore Girls. Side note... I firmly believe that Lorelei Gilmore is a parenting mastermind. Even though she's usually a hot mess haha. Maybe she'd know what to do about cutting naptime...
Anyway that's what we talk about. Todd had mentioned cutting Peter's nap on and off over the last few months but I just couldn't do it yet. I need that time during the day to be alone and quiet. And quiet time (instead of naptime) is great but it just means he'll either be staring at me from the other couch or I'll be leaving our room and tip toeing as fast as I can to the living room to tell him to stop whatever loud activity he is doing so he doesn't wake up Calvin. Quiet time just wasn't appealing to me as much as continuing naptime. But after the other night it was time.
And so yesterday I rocked with Calvin and sang him a few songs while Peter picked out a bunch of books and got settled on the couch. I explained the quiet time "rules" to him and so far it has been going okay. He was a little emotional at first because he didn't want to be alone in the living room but he'll get used to it.
Quiet time lasted for a couple hours. Peter read through his books and I only had to remind him of the "rules" a few times. Most importantly bedtime went without a hitch! Yeah! Beginner's luck perhaps but we're hoping it continues to go just as smoothly.
Isn't parenting fun? I think so. I really do... like in a crazy adventure kind of way where you never know what's going to happen or what weird thing your kid is going to say next.
Anyhow.
Got any "transitioning to quiet time" tips for me? Or quiet time activities? Peter usually adjusts pretty well but he's not very quiet... aka even sitting on the couch reading books is loud. Is that too much to ask of an almost-four year-old for two hours??
Currently I have him reading and playing with quiet books. There are some fun ideas on pinterest but I'd love to hear about what has worked for your kiddos!
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