I never understood schedules before I had a baby. I assumed that the baby would sleep whenever and wherever. I may have expressed that opinion once or twice- I'm sure to parents who snickered as they thought 'just wait...". I was a whereever whenever person as well. I had a husband who worked unconventional hours like myself. I had two jobs or one job and school for about 4 years straight. I didn't want to be on anyones schedule. I did things when I could and lived life day by day.
As fate would have it, I give birth to a child that THRIVES on a schedule. If one thing is out of place, she'll let you know about it. When she sleeps at night, if her door is even a crack open, she will wake up. She becomes a little confused if you don't do Bath, Bottle, Book, Bed every night at 7pm. She'll lay down in her crib, I put her monkey blanket on, I lay on the floor, she takes her monkey blanket off , I put it back on and say ' Good night, Sweetie Pie, see you tomorrow" Every. Night. If one thing is out of order, or missing, she becomes frazzled.
So I know my girl is like this, and because of it, and because she is such a good sleeper, I do NOT mess with naptime or bedtime. OK, sometimes I mess with naptime , but I can count on one hand the times I mess with bedtime. Last night was one of them.
She took a really long nap ( and skipped lunch altogether) and didn't wake up until about 5pm. Considering her bedtime is 7, I thought she could stay up a little later. Sheesh, I know better than that, but I figure," she's older, one night is not a big deal, blah blah blah" We took her to the a local carnival. She wanted to go on rides, 
but when we actually put her on them, she freaked. Not a fan.
Then we sat down and had a snack
which as you can see she was very excited about...She got a balloon from a clown
And then did some running. 
I love the tongue sticking out of her mouth.
So by now its 7pm, her usuall bedtime, but since she woke up so late, we figured we'd stop by Greg's freinds house. They just got a new beagle puppy. When we get there, he's having a little party, and whats in the backyard- besides a puppy, another gril Madeline's age and people oohing and ahing over her ? A bouncy house ! So we let her go in...long story , well, long, I don't seem to have made it any shorter, she didn't end up going to bed until 9pm. And thats just what time she went into her crib. She actually didn't fall alseep until about 10pm... and got up at her usual 6am( actually it was 5:40 something, i round it up to 6am to make myself feel a little better about it) . She has been cranky the WHOLE day... and difficult to get to sleep. Lesson to me... stick to the schedule. She did have a blast though, and keeps talking about Daisy the puppy and the bouncy castle.
Oh and now I totally want a puppy.
2 comments:
Jess...as a parent myself, sometimes you just have to suck it up and let your kids stay up late so they can experience some 'late night fun'. Although schedules get out of whack, at least she's not getting up to go to school, daycare, or you to work....I say be yourself and allow Maddie to do things that aren't the norm. Sounds like she had an absolute blast last night! Don't you want her to have experiences that she remembers like that? Believe me, it's worth every minute, even the late nights and early mornings...it all works itself out! And it is worth every minute! At least I think so.
Marion is also a lover of a schedule. We've done the late night fun time before too and it also ends up with a cranky toddler the next day. From then on I promised I would stick with her schedule (or within an hour of it) to avoid messing up the following day.
Sure, toddlers like to have fun, but what's a couple of hours when it destroys the possibility of fun the next day?
Sorry she's so cranky!
Post a Comment