Bravely making changes... Day 71: Chronicles of a toddler and his big boy bed

JACK'S NEW BED
*except it is a medium wood colour

We figured since Operation Sianara Soother went so well, with little effect at all (other than the occassional babysitting the door when he is a little too wired for nap/bed), little man goes to bed without a hitch and like always back to sleeping right through, no issues. yeehaw. doesn't even talk about the soother. ssaawweeeet! so we thought we would try something else....

We bravely decided to revisit the big boy bed..

This week I found a bed from Kijiji that I have been saving my pennies for the past bit from Ikea. I'm talking the EXACT one, I could hardly believe it. Seeing as our current big boy bed frame proved to be a touch of a child hazard (Jacks head got stuck in the bars one day while playing.... OH CRAP!) Though appreciated the hand-me-down, we knew we needed to find another one, and I swooped it up for more than 1/2 the price it was selling for at the store.. I am sooo happy! We picked it up last night and talked to Jack about it and got him really excited about his NEW big boy bed! One that was not so big, just low enough to the ground that he doesn't have to use a step stool and that is really cute. I think it really is the perfect bed for him and we hoped for a smoother transition this time round.

Jack and Daddy even put it together together  this early am (7:30!!) Jack was happy, excited, and bouncing around shouting, "MY NEW BIG BED!" (and on a whim) We even were brave enough to say goodbye to the crib!! (dare we??!!!) and Jack and Daddy got their tools out and took that one down too. WOW ok, all of those who have followed along on this bog boy bed journey know that this hasn't been an easy transition so to actually say good bye to the crib!!? WHAT ARE WE NUTS! This has been a long journey, every night faithfully reading books in the big bed (trying to get him used to it), then jack going to the crib/toddler bed, the after he falls asleep we transfer him to the big bed, every night so that  he wakes up in the big bed every morning in hopes that he will finally choose to love it.

Needless to say, it hasn't worked and he has chosen the crib/toddler bed every time other than a few I can count on my hands. What was seeming to be hopeless, surrendering to the thought and soon reality of 2 cribs and a great mattress we had been given going to waste to sit in storage for a while, we somehow got the balls to try it again, try a new approach, we really had nothing to loose. 6 weeks till the new baby comes. I have got to try it now if I'm going to try it at all.

You know what? It worked.

He is asleep. on a nap. in his big bed.

After lunch, Luke put him down for nap and he jumped right out, looked around the room for his crib and said "where'd night night go?" (which is what he calls the crib) luke didn't respond just tried the regular routine as normal. Jack was a but squirmy and didn't want a book but jumped out of bed, so Luke put him back in and said "good night buddy, its nap time" and closed the door. Jack attempted escape a few time but gave up and stayed quiet on the floor. After about 5/10 min or so I went up to check on him, (this often happens, falls asleep in front of the door while planning his next escape) He wasn't quite asleep yet and when I opened the door, he got up and climbed into his new bed and said 'night night'.

I am so amazed, so shocked, so proud, I am smiling ear to ear. He likes his New big bed, and I think he's ready.

You know we looked at him just yesterday and said man oh man, you aren't a baby anymore, look at him, so big, he is a little boy now. I am so proud of him, I hope this time is no problem, b/c the next step is his new ROOM!! It is so weird to see him grow so fast, but he will ALWAYS be my baby :)

Operation Sianara Soother a Great Success

photo credit: photosbytrayc.ca

Day 7: Dare I say it? Dare I??? SUCCESS!!! I am so happy to say that even though there has really been no fight since Day 1, I think it is safe to say that Operation Soother is a great success. I am so proud of my little man, so proud that he threw it away, gave it up, decided that soothers are no longer required in life :) Naps and bed have been mostly smooth, it takes a little longer for him to go down b/c he doesn't have the magical drug of soother to instantly settle him, but he is happy, he goes to bed without a fight (minus today's nap b/c he was wired but that doesn't ask), and he doesn't even really ask for it. The Soother has become a thing of the past! I am relieved that he is napping still. I am relieved that this was so smooth, I am relieved that this happened before the baby came, before we changed to the new room. I LOVE that this sweet little face will never be covered with a plastic suckee in his mouth ever again! Hooorraaaahhhh for a sootherless Toddler!!

Operation Sianara Soother: Day 6

no excitement to report today,

nap, cried for 5 min then went to sleep.
bedtime he was so wired but still fell asleep without a fight just babbling and talking to himself for sometime and for the first time didn't ask for the soother at all.

yeehaaaw.

morning wake up

This morning I woke up to a small person climbing over me, into my bed to snuggle in between me and Luke. He was fully equipped with dirty dog and climbing under the covers fully intending to sleep there. lol.  It was 5 am. As sweet as this was and how big of a smile it brought to my face and accepted if it were 7 am. Its just not happening at 5. lol.  Luke picked him up gave him lots of snuggles and out him back in his bed. Man it was cute what a great wake up.

Operation Sianara Soother: Day 5

Well Mommy and Daddy are both at work today so that means Jack is at daycare. I felt unsure as to what would happen without the soother today for her, unsure if he would be totally fine or milk it b/c he thinks that maybe she would give in. I was happy to hear good reports,  pretty easy for her, and she is tough, a cry for "SAAAANNNNDDEEEEEE SOOOTTTHERRRRRR" but with a simple response of the soother is in the garbage, he asked again SAAANNNNDDDEEEE SOOOOTHER" she replied "Carter (his best bud) doesn't have a soother", Jack said  "Carter soother gone?" she said "Yup he's a big boy and so are you, soother is in the garbage, goodnight"  and closed the door. "WAAAHHHHHHHH" but by the time she was at the bottom of the stairs, he was asleep.


NICE!!!

Bedtime: Jack has been bouncing like a sugar high monkey for the past hour and i'm not really sure why since he never had any sugar.. We read his books and off he has gone to bed. not to sleep but to bed. i could hear him babbling away in his room. I hear silence at the moment but he isn't crying or upset, perhaps asleep by the time I finished writing this.  When going to bed he talked about his soother being in the garbage and when Luke picked him up to have a snuggle and put him down he asked once for it, but with no complaints we just ignore the request and out the door Luke and I went.

So I do hear quiet now, seems just a few short sentences written and as fast as he is jumping on the bed he is asleep on it.

As exhausted as we are today, (no sleep last night, sick dog, vomit, poo and pee everywhere, long day at work, more poo when we return, busy child, dinner, cleaning, just wanting the noise to stop and us sit down) I can't help but get a big smile, I am so proud, and HE IS SO FREAK'N CUTE.

Operation Sianara Soother: Day 4

I am happy to announce it has still be smooth sailing. He still asks when he goes to bed but easily forgets when you tell him its in the garbage. YEAAH!! I am jumping inside with happiness! I honestly thought  yesterday for the first time, wow this was not nearly as hard as I thought, what was I afraid of? hmm maybe the same stubbornness we went through with the bed, sleepless nights, insane crying, temper tantrums, all of the above. but Luke was prepared for all of that, even if I wasn't and I'm so glad that he made me stick to my word about doing this.

Day 4: 

Naptime: Went down a bit late b/c we were at church, we had a bit of a cry but again in only lasted about 30 seconds before he just went to sleep.

Bedtime: Nothing eventful either, but after a looong day of church and Easter and family and happy child, we weren't even home till 9pm, which is an hour and a half past bed time. I was suprised that he didn't fall asleep in the car but happily sang twinkle twinkle  all the way home. When we arrived he asked for books and the soother, but again reminded it is in the garbage and after saying goodnight within minutes he went to sleep.


Today (Day 5) He is off to daycare, we told our sitter how we have responded so far, we hope it goes smooth for her too. We had Jack tell her where he put the soother, he excitedly exclaimed, "IN THE JABAGE!!!" So she made a big deal too how he is such a big boy! and Jack was happy.

One thing I have noticed as a real positive is that he doesn't have any grumpy wake ups any more. He used to a few days a week have a period of time that it took him to wake up after a nap or nighttime. He would sit with a grumpy look on his face and not want to fully wake up or talk much and when you took the soother or asked him to put it in his bed he would grump at you, cry or fit. Since the soother has been gone, he has woken up happy as a bug on every wake up. Today he said "Morning mommy! come on lets play!" and headed downstairs. What an a wonderful change! When telling my dad this yesterday he said how funny it was that when you remove addiction from your life what a difference it can make. I never would have thought of this at all but really it has been an amazing difference. It was weird to come across one today and instantly throw it out before he could see it and I can honestly say I am ready to look for all the soothers in the house, car, diaper bags, emergency places and throw them out.  I am confident that they are gone from life, at least until we decide to introduce one to the new baby, if we do.. still gonna play that one by ear.

Still wondering when he forgets about it and stops asking but at least there are no fits and bedtimes are smooth. GO JACK! 

Operation Sianara Soother Day 3

So here we start day 3, Jack slep the night last night no problems and woke up at 7am ready to play as usual. He asks every now and then about the soother, but no major issues that its gone. 

Naptime: We all went to a birthday party today for a friends daughter, Jack loved it, had tons of fun and was very tired on the way home. He went to bed with what i thought was ease, asked about the soother, we reminded him that he put it in the garbage, he laid down and I went to the basement to do one more load of laundy while Luke ran to the store. When I came up 5 min later I still heard silence till i sat down... i began to hear him singing to himslef, talking, giggling, then what sounded like possible climbing? and playing with something that didn't sound like toys.. i left it, he is quiet, he will fall asleep. the noise continued, then about 10 minutes later CRASH! and WAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
I went upstairs to see what was going on to find a crying little boy holding his head saying "MAMA BONKEEE HEAD!!" The blinds were open and curtains wide open and sun streaming in the window. i settled him down, pull the blinds back down, and close the curtains, i tell him its time for a nap, he cries but doesn't ask for the soother. Finally its quiet, but i can hear him tossing and turning in the bed through the monitor.

An hour passes, he is still awake. Luke came home from the store suprised he is still awake but reminded me that  Jack discovered the loot bag from the birthday party had jube jubes in it (that we didn't know were in there) and we caught him eating them all in the car (he has never had anything like this. lol) that explains it.. HE'S WIRED.  nap time cancelled. We'll try again tomorrow.

Bedtime: Well seeing as there was MUCH excitement in the Sinnott Household this afternoon, (Uncle Matt came to put in new lights for Jack and the baby's new rooms, the first step to our construction of the nursery) Jack couldn't even think about being sleepy. A day with no nap as never actually happened so I was kind of dreading how terribly grumpy and tired he would be, but Matt was waay to interesting for him and with so much "fix it" stuff, Jack had to join in with his tools along side with Uncle Matt and Daddy. (it was adorable, 'Uncle Matt, Uncle Matt, LOOK i fix it!") They finished just in time as bed was approaching.  We read books, and knowing how tired Jack was, I knew he wouldn't even notice the soother missing, I was right,  he fell asleep right away.

So far this isn't so bad and I know it could definitely be worse. I just keep praying for Grace. I hope that it continues this way and that he soon stops asking about it.  He went from always asking and stealing it from his bed during the day and not letting go in the mornings and after nap (as soothers were a sleep only thing for us), to not talking about it at all and only asking when he goes to bed but when we remind him that he threw it away that seems to be a good enough answer for him. SO on goes the adventure. Thank you Jesus for Grace.

Operation Sianara Soother!

We recently decided that the soother should probably leave soon. No offense to others that keep there binky's, paci's, dumb dumbs', choochoos', past 2, but watching him with it every day, seemed to get more and more attached. I was warned to rid of it prior to now but seeing as we were transitioning other things it just didn't seem like a good idea yet... or was this just a good excuse because I mommy wasn't ready... i think its probably leading towards the latter. i just didn't feel like it was the right time. my baby. growing up so quickly, loosing the soother would just be one more thing. He is now inches away from touching head to toe in his crib/ toddler bed (which he sleeps wonderfully in now! and even sometimes chooses the big single bed!) Using the potty, we have still been really relaxed on the the potty but he consistently goes every day at least once or twice, sometimes all his pees and poos for the day. I think that we will be able to go full time when I am home full time and have the ability to have a consistent routine with him every day. He is a little communicator, though shy in front of new people, he is talking like crazy, now talking in a lot of full sentences 6 or 7 words even! knows almost all of the alphabet, sings songs all day, counts to 20, playing baseball  (actually hits the ball with a bat!), and basketball (amazed that he can throw the ball from 3 feet away and get it in!), golf and hockey (passes to daddy and he passes back), I just can't believe my BABY is growing up so fast. Faster than I expected. So the soother, perhaps was one last thing to hold on to... before admitting that my little baby is becoming more and more my little man.  I don't want him to grow up. and brings me to tears thinking about him getting big. its just going by so fast.  I think of my parents, they must still look at us and think and remember us as little babies. I understand when my mom used to go through our baby clothes and memories and cry because I do it too.  Anyway side thoughts, all consuming thoughts.. man i love him. After reading studies and a lot on soothers and toddlers, and not only addiction to the soother, development of the mouth and theeth and possible stunting emotional development and learning coping, we decided, I needed to suck it up and we needed to just do it. Get rid of the soother. So we set a date weeks ago, the next long weekend so that we could have all thursday night, friday, saturday and sunday to wean him prior to sending him back to daycare on monday..   So here we started...

Day 1: Day one was better than what it could have been, we decided to watch the "bye bye binky" song by elmo. So he went around the house singing bye bye soother all day long. At the end of the day we talked to him about saying bye bye to the soother and putting it in the garbage. After some time of him getting some last sucks and chews in he decided to say bye bye and threw the soother in the garbage. We waved, and then gave him lots of praise and told him how proud we were of him. We headed to bed and continued with the regular bedtime routine. When it came to the end when we turn off the light, he asked for his soother, we reminded him that he threw it the garbage. He at first accepted it, we said goodnight, closed the door and thought we were in the clear. Untill 30 seconds later when the crying began. "my soodah, my soodah, peeeeaaase daddy, peeaaaase" every cry a stab in my heart. Our wonderful sleeper all he wanted was that 2 minutes of sucking to fall asleep, (he only had it during sleep time, not during the day) but it killed me to know, that this would just take a couple minutes and he would be to sleep! how could i be doing this?  but Luke encouraged me to hold on. 10 minutes went by, OHHHH my heart!!! IT ACHES IT ACHES, MY HEART!!! i go up i try to comfort him, he wants daddy. I come downstairs and Luke goes in and hear his sobbing through the monitor. I cry, my baby I am torturing him!! Luke comes down and says we just have to keep sticking it out (man my husband is awesome). I want to cave. I want to rescue him, I want it to stop. I want to cry, I do cry. I want to grab that soother from the garbage and give it to him. But then, 15  more minutes later... silence. he sleeps. The thing about Jack is that he doesn't actually need the soother, he loves sleep and doesn't even sleep with a soother all night, he just uses it to dope himself out. As soon as he is asleep hi spits it out. 

He woke up once in the night and once in the morning, but both times went back down without a problem too sleepy to even think about the soother.

I survived. My heart is bruised but I survived.

Day 2:

Naptime: Luke was home with him, put him down for nap, and Jack asked for his soother, Luke did awesome, and questioned him, "Soother? but remember you threw it in the garbage." He recieved that. " Soother in the garbage, bye bye" some fussing but 2 minutes later He was asleep.


Night time: Same bed time routine, he again asks for the soother, we remind him again he threw it in the garbage and say goodnight, close the door and walk out. for the next 15 minutes we hear him babbling in his room about his soother, "where soodah? oh garbage, garbage, soodah in the garbage. bye bye soodah! in garbage. my name is jack sinnott, jack sinnott, jack sinnott, soodah in the garbage, bye bye bye bye bye bye. soooodaaahhh" and on it went. until, silence. he fell asleep, mind you in front of the door not in bed, but he fell asleep. without a fight, without the soother. 

End of Day 2 and I have hope. We aren't going back. We will stick it out, we are strong enough. Sianara Soother.