Fireworks Competition
8 years ago
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Toddler Nightime Woes
Nightime is always unpredictable at my house. With two little boys aged 2 and 3 I often find one crawling into my bed in the middle of the night. I don't mind- I just pick them up, plop them next to me and we can all have a good night's sleep. The problem occurs when both wake up at the same time! This is one of the moments when being a single mom is the most difficult. Putting them both in bed with me doesn't work because one always bothers the other one usually my 2 year old bothering his older brother. If I bring them back to their room, I end up awake between them trying to coax them back to sleep. Last night was one of those nights. We tried to stay in the same bed, didn't work. I brought my 2 year old back to his bed and asked my three year old to stay in my bed. Just as I was lying next to my two year old in his bed and he's almost asleep, my three year old comes in the room. Wakes us all up again. Now they are both in their own beds and I am still with my two year old in his little toddler bed.... Just when I'm sure that he is now sleeping and I can finally return to my own bed- he meows (pretending to be a cat). As funny as that sounds (two year olds are so unpredicatable) it is very frustrating at 4:30 in the morning! I stayed for about 20 minutes more- finally they are both asleep. Of course, by then it was 5:15 in the morning, half an hour before my alarm goes off. Being a mother of two toddlers is never without surprises!
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I feel your pain! I have six-year-old boy/girl twins and an 11 year old boy. I host a single mom group at my house every Sunday. When I had this problem here's what I did. I would take each child back to his/her own bed and rub their back for a few minutes. Back to bed for me and repeat over and over, the first few nights stunk as I didn't get much sleep. But after enough repetitions they knew it would be back to their own bed. I see so many of 'my' moms struggle with this. Being a single mom is so demanding as it is, it is extra important that you keep the boundaries that allow you to care for yourself. Once they know you mean it, it works so much better. It's nice to snuggle with them, but make that a special 'sleepover' time once in awhile, as long as they realize it won't mean every night again. It helped me even down the road with them listening to me. It has to be understood that you're in charge (even if we don't even feel like we are). I found your blog doing a search on single mom resources. All the best to you and I'll check back sometimes.
ReplyDeletePatti