Bed Time and Tantrums

Oh my.  That is quite the title we have there isn't it.  Hello my friends, I am sorry it has been so long since we last had a chat here.  You see I have been a little busy living day to day life and that has left me with very little "me" time, whatever that is, and for that I am sorry. 

I am here to share with you a little snippet of what has been happening around these parts lately. It has been rough mostly with the kids, more specifically with Z-man. 

We are at a crossroads of naps and no naps.  Most days he still needs a nap but that will lead to a later bed time which then leads to not enough sleep and him then again needing a nap.  But here in lies the problem.  He doesn't want to nap and unless I force him to take a nap or he just happens to fall asleep randomly at 3, 4 or 5 pm he doesn't take one.  This is a huge recipe for disaster for the whole household!

Random late afternoon nap. 

Z-man while out with friends or at school is the picture of a well behaved child.  Which is you know amazing because as parents we worry that our kids act as crazy for others as they do for us!  But at home he has been full of attitude, whining, crying at every.little.thing. To the point where I thought I was about to lose my damn mind. I have never wanted to be a mom who yells or screams at her kids out of frustration but there were days (read weeks) where that is all I felt I was doing.  With CJ's work schedule it was hard because he would come home to a house in such a disarray, me pissed off because I needed a break, Z-man crying, and Sweet Pea was usually already in bed at that point. 

My poor sister would listen to me day after day complain and whine myself about how sucky it all was but she always listened and offered advice when I needed it. But after trying everything, or so I thought, I was at my wits end. Something had to change or one of us wouldn't survive to see Z-man turn 5.  Just kidding, but that is what it felt like. 

Throwing a massive tantrum because I said "No."
to having a treat 20 minutes before dinner. 

Enter a beacon of light.  A savior if you will.  The light bulb to out shine all other light bulbs. It was time for a schedule.  And not just any schedule, a bed time schedule.  Let me say first before ya'll start saying "Well....duh!"  Z-man and Sweet Pea have always been great sleepers, like I am talking sleeping through the night from 8 week postpartum.  It has been like a dream really until all of this acting out nonsense started. So, we have never had the need for a schedule for their bedtimes.  But, I thought it was worth a shot. 

Z-man had been going to bed between 8:30 & 9:30 but still waking up at 6 or 6:30 each morning. But when he napped he got all the sleep he needed for an active growing boy so we weren't concerned. With that in mind and him now not taking naps we have instilled a 7:30 bed time.

Let me just also say this.  I don't claim to be a parenting expert in fact I often roll my eyes at people who do. Because let's face it we are all just trying to figure out what works for our family and our kids one stinking day at a time. But by gosh if this hasn't been working...for us.  It has been only a few days but it seems the transition has been going smoothly. The first night was rough I think mostly because he took an accidental 45 minute nap late in the afternoon.  Last night on the other hand we started bed time at 7:30, CJ read him a book and I cuddled him for a few minutes along with a song, and by 7:45 he was sound asleep and woke in the best of moods both days. We are going to keep this routine for a few weeks and then bump the time up to 7:15 as a start of bed time and see how that goes. Wish us luck that this is a small light at the end of this phase because man I have two more kids to figure out!  

Until next time....