It has been a full week since we started trying to get our kids to bed at a decent hour. At this point, the kids are becoming more consistent with being ready for bed. Our days are going a little more smoothly, and I'm becoming anxious for where this might lead. Nap time is slowly returning to our house!
We have been trying to be home by about 8pm, which gives us some time each night as a foursome to unwind and do the nighttime rituals that are necessary to get us all in bed. We let the kids play for a few minutes while we get things picked up around the house, finishing with the toys in the living room. After pickup, we brush teeth (which is not an easy task) and make sure everyone has an empty bladder. There are few things less enticing than the idea of waking up drenched in someone else's urine (even if it is one of the people you love most in the world)! Sometimes our daughter protests that she just went potty at mamaw's and papaw's house, but I follow my mom's advice to always try. I'm satisfied if she can even get out a few drips. After we accomplish this feat, it is off to bed for story and song time (see previous post).
It has been amazing to see the childrens' eyes close in sweet slumber before 10pm. In fact, it has been closer to 9:30 when they nod off to sleep. Yay! This means I have the opportunity to start my me time a full hour or more earlier. I have been able to restart Stormie O'Martian's Power of a Praying Parent book and study/prayer guide. I have the plan to read this book in conjunction with 2 other of O'Martian's titles: Power of a Praying Wife, and Power of Prayer to Change Your Marriage.
I have an old-school Mead spiral bound 3 subject notebook that I am keeping my answers from the study/prayer guides in. That way, they are all in one place, but I have an easy way to keep them separate for ease of use. Each book is divided into weeklong assignments for reading, reflection, and specific guided prayer. The workbook asks you some pretty tough questions about your life, expectations, motives, and actions. It also asks you to write your own prayers to cover a specific area that needs attention - past mistakes that you feel guilt over is one. I am writing my answers to the questions on one page (half for my daughter, half for my son) - front and back - and the following page is where I am writing my prayers for the week. So far I have only managed to complete the first week for Parent.
"Slacker!" You might think. "You've had more time this week than before, and you can't manage to read three chapters?" Just as I said the kids are becoming more consistent with their bedtimes, my son has not yet made the transition to sleeping through the night (generally wakes after 2 hours in bed). In fact he has been so off with his behavior since December 21, 2011 that I am going to be making an appointment with his pediatrician for this week. I have to go with my intuition on this one and say "something ain't right." I have been tracking his symptoms since he recovered from his cold. Loss of appetite, change in mood and behavior, severe irritability, change in sleep patterns, stumbling and falling frequently, bruises easily, and a few mysterious blisters on his left middle finger, left pinkie toe, and left heel. A few mornings ago he even ran into the door when he got out of bed! He has not had a fever since before his MMR vaccine a week after he recovered from the cold, but I believe strongly that he may have an inner ear infection. Regardless, I don't think it can wait until his next well-child visit in March.
To add to that, my mom was briefly hospitalized for pneumonia, and the antibiotic they prescribed and administered intravenously (avelox) can cause swollen or ruptured tendons up to 2 years after finishing the drug. She was also apparently so severely anemic that she is on a high dose of iron twice a day. She has to go back to the doctor in 2 weeks for repeat lab testing. If her results have not improved, she will be seeing a renal specialist and likely be subjected to more invasive testing to find the cause of her problems. It is a very tense and scary situation since her father had impaired renal function, non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, ALS, heart disease, aneurysms in his aorta and both legs, and eventually a stroke. We already know that she has PVCs (premature ventricular contractions) and A-Fib (atrial fibrillation) as well as a murmur. This must be genetic, because I also have A-Fib, some mild PVCs, and such a low resting heart rate that my heart actually stopped for nearly 3 seconds while I was sleeping in December 2010 (24 hour monitor followed with a diagnosis of needing a pace maker and a visit with an electrophysiologist and wearing a 28 day Holter Monitor). Now her fever won't stay down. She is also taking augmentin, so you would think that the original sinus and ear infection would be gone by now and that the pneumonia would be weakened... Needless to say, we are praying hard!
Back to my original quandary - is it sleep training if the child isn't sleeping? I can't let him cry it out when he wakes up, because there is no "out" to his crying. He will scream for more than an hour - believe me, I know firsthand! He is weaned, so there is no midnight snacking. He simply desires physical contact, and he will not settle down until he has it.
No comments:
Post a Comment