November 18, 2010
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Bedtime Routine
I do the bedtime routine which goes something like this. Read 2-3 books, sing 3 songs, pray, hugs & kisses, and say our ‘good nights.’ This should only take about 15 min, but sometimes it can take up to 30 minutes. This is what usually happens. After I leave her room, I can hear her saying, “Mommy!” I go in and she’ll ask me to plug in her night light. I leave only to be called in again. This time she wants to know why she has a fire alarm in her room. Explanation can take up to 5 min. I leave hoping she won’t call me, but she does. She says she has to go pee, but she just went 10 min ago! My patience runs thin and I tell her that she cannot call me anymore and to go night night. She agrees. A few minutes later, she calls me again only to have me straighten out the corner of her blanket. I tell her this is my last time and not to call me anymore. She calls me again, I ignore her, and she falls asleep eventually. This happened every night and was seriously getting out of control.
So this is what I came up with. She has three babies she sleeps with. Her stuffed elephant, Annabelle (her baby), and Alex (another baby). I decided to tell her that I have to take away one of her babies if she calls me in after she’s supposed to go night night. She loves her babies, so I knew she would try her best. And guess what? It worked like a charm! She fell asleep like an angel without calling me once!
This is how our conversation went tonight.
R: Mom, can I have 5 jelly beans if I sleep really well and to the morning?
me: Yes, I will give you 5 jelly beans if you don’t call me in and if you sleep till the morning.
R: Ok mom. I will do my best. I’m gonna yawn RIGHT NOW! good night mom.She fell asleep w/i minutes! Now, I just have to figure out how to help her sleep in a little bit longer. She’s been waking up at 5am every morning since the time change!!!!
Comments (11)
omgoodness, C must have been talkin to Rylie on the phone. She’s been milking the system at bedtime in the EXACT same way too! 엄마, can you brush my hair again?
엄마, I have to pee pee,
엄마 one more kiss?
엄마 one more hug and I will go to sleep, (only to hear 2 mins later)->
엄마 I think I have to go to the bathroom again EEEEER!
Now I’m thinking about just jumping the gun and telling her she can have 5 jellybeans the next day if she doesn’t call me in again~
you’re so lucky there’s something she loves that you can threaten to take away!!! we have the same issue with jt but i have yet to find a solution!!
he asks for water and another hug and for me to fix his blanket and then he wants his shirt off, then on, then off.. ARRRGH. we have a reward chart with candy at the end of 7 nights and a toy after 3 weeks but he’s still on like week 2 and it’s been months!! 
waaa. i’m so happy for you, though! (for now.. ) 
this sounds sooo familiar. i still go through it occasionally but since J is in so many activities he knocks out pretty quick now. =P
we have our bedtime routine too. which is bath & 1 episode of a dvd series. and usually, we just say 99, love you,see u in the morning. done. he’s REALLY good, most of the time. but sometimes (like tonight) he’ll do the exact same thing u just mentioned above & yes, it drives me nuts~ his babies (at this momen) are woody & jesse, used to be buzz, curious george etc… (wutevers new at the moment). but other than the difference in who his “babies” are, he does thee.exact.same.thing. and i too, tell him the same thing about taking a toy away if he doesnt go to sleep. it usually works but on nights it doesn’t i bribe him with…..we’ll do “this or that, or see him or her” when he wakes up in the morning. i’m afraid to mention the word candy, because i’m afraid he’ll want it right then and there. LOL. but i was DEF running out of patience tonight. but i just dont understand WHY he is SO good most nights and just TERRIBLE on other nights. whyyy??
anyways, u must have aLOT more patience than me, because you’re also taking care of a newborn… 99! =)
@sooae - try it! see if the jelly beans will work
@ka_woman - lol… both youkeun and i were laughing at the shirt on and off.
@munchkincho - i had a question about his swim class. do you take him to an indoors place since the weather is getting cooler or is it still at the same place?
@K_G_C - oh no… just read your fb post. i hope your day gets better! sending hugs your way
Good job Mama! I’m not looking forward to sleep training. Thanks for the reminder. i think I’ll start soon.
@helenxmelon - i take him to the ymca. it’s soooo much cheaper!!! $56 per month – no monthly membership needed. i don’t know why i didn’t look into it sooner. only thing is that it’s a group class (6 max) but he’s taking a late class (7pm) so there are only 3 kids including him. =) it’s not one-on-one but i think he has improved on a faster scale than when it *was* one on one. weird.
lol~ so cute! rylie is one of the most well-behaved babies i know. that’s awesome that the taking her babies away thing worked. =) i hope she starts waking up later too~!