The cold hard truth

It's been coming for a while.

I think I've been in denial.

My once awesome napper, has been resisting his only nap since end of November. I originally found the solution of rocking him to sleep (hello 26 lbs!) worked, and swore I would only do it for a week, and then it would be back to our routine of two songs, a hug, kiss and bed. Well, that didn't happen. 

I rocked him well into my 38th week of pregnancy. Big belly and all. 

He needed sleep. Hell, I needed sleep.

And now, since the arrival of his little sister, we've had a grand total of five naps in ten days. That's not a very good average. Those naps came at the price of listening to a child scream like he's on fire for over an hour. Both NZ and I have attempted to go calm him down (NZ was successful, I was not) enough to sleep. 

I'm beside myself. I feel like two is too young to give up naptime. Everything I read says that two year olds need naps (or at least benefit from them). He is still in a crib, but from the looks of things today, he is one leg away from getting over it (I found him straddled and perched on top this afternoon). 

I succeeded in giving him a book and telling him he didn't need to sleep but did need to sit quiet in his crib and read until I come to get him. It seems to be working. Ten minutes so far and not a peep, but I do hear pages turning. 

The tough part is knowing if he is just going through a phase because the family dynamic has changed, or if he is legitimately not tired. He seems to operate okay on his napless days, although evenings get a bit sloppy and delirious. 

I'm tending to think he is just growing out of them, and that's the cold hard truth.

Anyone have any tips, advice, magic potions?

Redemption

I'm not sure if it was just me being extra tired from being sick this week, or what, but this morning was a tough one. Maybe I just wasn't up on my game, but by 9:00 am, I had already had to clean up two puddles of pee and the items that were hit by the pee floods ( thank goodness our floors are tile and hardwood-makes cleaning easier) by a child who rarely has accidents like that anymore. This was met with a toddler pulling my pant leg asking for more "Duce" and when I told him that I wasn't serving any more juice because he had obviously had to much to drink this morning (causing pee floods), he lost it on me. 

Once the "Duce" tantrum ended, he found some crispy onion crackers and already being frustrated, I agreed-- afterall, it wasn't juice, so that was a win win for both of us.  I turned on a cartoon for him (I needed to get a cake frosted), and he went to the living room with his bag of crackers. Next thing I know, the bag has been dumped upside down and there are crushed crackers all over my rug. Followed by another pee flood. ON.TOP.Of.THE.CRACKERS. Of which were then stomped until they were mush in my rug.

Are you kidding me, child?! 

After cleaning it up and dousing the carpet with my vinegar/alcohol/dish soap concoction, I conceded. 

My surrender flag was a'wavin.

We both needed out of the apartment. We have been in all but one day this week due to my terrible cold and unhealthy pollution levels. We loaded up and went to the playground, and then on to the promenade in front of our complex so he could ride one of those electric rides. 

We returned home for lunch, of which he requested meat-uh-balls (he says it like an Italiano) and naw-chos. I rounded it out with a side of Greek salad and a sippy of milk. As I was getting his room ready for naptime, I hear an uh oh from the dining room. He had pulled his lid off and poured milk all over the meat-uh balls and naw-chos. 

Are you kidding me, child?!

This behavior deemed lunchtime OVER, and in his credit, he did help me clean up. He is a good helper, this kid..but he also knows how to make a catastrophic mess. Anyways, naptime usually goes off without much of a hitch. Occasionally he will talk for a half hour or so, or throw his blanket out and call til someone gets it for him, and once in a blue moon he will refuse a nap.

The moon must be blue today.

For over an hour he refused to nap. Alternating cries of mama with the sounds of a crib being pushed away from the wall, and the sound of tiny feet kicking the ends of his crib (IKEA sundvik cribs have a solid headboard and footboard that make the worst sounds when kids kick them), he went on for an HOUR. Frustrated, I peeked in after letting him carry on for that long only to see his crib in the middle of the room, his rug scrunched up and all of his bedding thrown on the floor. This kid has skills, yo!

I remade his crib, picked him up (after a really deep "keep-your-shit-together-mama" breath) and started holding him like a baby. He's already like half my height, so this wasn't an easy task. I put him up over my shoulder after a few minutes and sang a couple songs to him. As I finished out the last verse of "you are my sunshine", I felt him surrender. 

He was lights out within minutes of being rocked.

I stood there in his room, hugging him tightly before putting him in his crib, and my eyes welled up with tears. The realization that this young, independent, spirited little boy who had run me ragged this morning is still just a baby. Often times I feel like I can't wait for the next milestone to be reached, but standing there in his room this afternoon, just giving him love and rocking him made me want time to stand still. 

Our naptime snuggle was just the redemption I needed after a morning like today.

SEVENTEEN months

Sal turned 17 months in yet another country--Indonesia. By next month he'll be done with his worldwide jet setting, and will celebrate the next few monthly milestones in China. We have a trip planned to the USA again in the end of September, but as for summer 'round here, we're gonna cruise through and enjoy a break from jet lag and climbing the walls of airplanes for a few months.

Month seventeen has been both extremely rewarding, and challenging at the same time. Sal's vocabulary is growing little by little, and the looks on Nick and my faces when we showed him a duck one day and he said "duck" Clear as day was priceless. I didn't even know he knew what ducks are. Apparently he does. He is a good timin' kid, much like his dad. When he is having fun, he's doing it full throttle. He laughs, smiles and screeches to show his enjoyment for anything from going to the park to shaking a cup full of goldfish til it empties on the floor. He loves to empty containers and put the contents back in. I'm hoping this transfers to putting toys away soon. 

As for the challenging part of month 17? 

Temper tantrums.

In full force. Anywhere and everywhere. I know that this is the age when toddlers start to figure out how to manipulate their environment, so I try to keep in mind that the tantrums are just his way of learning how to be a little man. It's our job to guide him by providing choices, consequences and consistency...and really, just leading by example--which is easier said than done. I've got the mouth of a sailor at times, and the last thing I want is to hear is my son saying something wildly inappropriate at the most unfortunate time. 

His new words this month have been:

Up

Hot

Byyyye dad

Duck

Pretty

He went in a swimming pool for the first time while in Bali, and he also got to take a dip in both the Indian Ocean and the Bali sea during the same trip. He took to the water like a moth to a flame, and once he realized the garden outside our hotel room lead to the pool it was time for me to put my running shoes on to keep up with him as he would sprint toward the water every time we were out on our porch. We were really happy to see how comfortable he became in the pool, and hope to get him in swim lessons soon. 

Since we travelled so much this past month, I allowed Sal to use my iPad during flights. His favorite app? Talking Tom and Talking Ginger, the cats that you can speak to and then they repeat. There was a lot of high pitched screeching going on, but it was so cute to watch.

Sal continues to be a social little guy. He goes through periods of shyness, but he generally likes people and attention. He loves older children, and even showed some maturity from baby to toddler when he offered toys to my friend's younger son. Let's just hope this continues when he has a sibling to share with. 

Last month someone had emailed me about breaking the bottle habit, asking how it was going...

My answer in short.. They still exist.

This is a "mom" habit, not a Sal thing. His only "must have" is his blue blanket....but I keep on with routine and have not stopped the naptime and bedtime bottles yet. Why is change sometimes harder for the parents? I guess because he doesn't "need" it, I feel like its okay to continue on with the bottle, but then again, do I really want a two year old drinking bottles of milk at night? Plus, its easy. I know that after bottle time, he will go to sleep. Naptime and bedtime is precious. I'm sort of afraid of messing with something that has been working for us.

But i know...i have to change the routine. Didn't I say that last month? 

Here's to breaking the bottle by month eighteen!