Ok, Evie has been the subject of many of my postings...well...here we go again. As if her mischievous ways weren't bad enough to deal with another problem has arisen...sigh.
At the beginning of this year we put Evie in a toddler bed and it went fine. At nap time I'd have to maybe go in a couple times to put her back in her bed but even that was short lived. At bedtime we'd put her to bed, give her a kiss and a hug and that was it...asleep.
Now bedtime which used to be my sigh of relief...get my wits back...relax from the stress of dealing with her all day....gone! She refuses to stay in her bed no matter how many times I put her back in and even spank her for getting out. She takes her pillow and blanket and lays down right in front of her door...and this is usually following a good fit of crying and screaming. When I lay her down I give her a kiss and hug and by the time I reach the door she's crying for another hug. If I go and give her another hug it just starts all over. When I leave the room that's of course when the screaming begins. If I hear her stop it's only because she's laid herself down at her door. Besides that she's been waking me up in the night any where's from 3-6 times. She wakes up screaming and pounding at her door and when I go in and ask her what's wrong she says she wants a hug. The one night I battled with her for three hours at bedtime and when she finally did go to sleep she ended up waking me 6 times that night!
Last night Jim was up for bedtime cause he didn't have to be into work til 5:30 instead of 1:30. She was even giving him a hard time with it and he's the one she usually listens to better. Finally we put her toddler bed in the other kids bedroom thinking it might help if she weren't in a room alone. It helped in that she wasn't screaming when we left the room but over the next two hours the kids kept complaining that she wouldn't shut up! Finally she got into their bed and was jumping on every one. So, just so everybody could get some sleep we put her in with us.
I don't know what to do with this child anymore. I've never loved something so much and yet wanted to be done with it at the same time. I've had plans of setting up a bunk bed in her room so her and Deb can share the bedroom...not sure if having someone in there with her will help or not. Seeing that she's never given me trouble like this before I'm just frustrated to know what's causing all her distress with bedtime.
Tonight they will be going to their Nan and Paps to spend the night and all I can say is thank God! At least I'll get one night's break from it all. I'm sure she'll be fine over there cause she usually sleeps with either her Nan or her Pap.
Before, dealing with her just caused emotional and mental exhaustion...now I can add physical exhaustion to that. I was reading on the back of some Benadryl I got for the dog and it said * do not use to make a child sleepy * Well, there goes that plan. Just kidding...but seriously :-/
Rebekah wrote
ReplyDeleteI was reading on the back of some Benadryl I got for the dog and it said * do not use to make a child sleepy * Well, there goes that plan
When I was in my pre-teens and teen Benadryl did make me sleepy. But its a horrible thing to use, because you end up having to have it to sleep. It also can have the reverse effect on some people, especially children, making them even more hyper.
Try a shot of rum in warm milk ;)
My Bethany would do the same thing. I hated shutting the door because I thought it made things worse. I put up a baby gate to keep her in and she would sleep right next to it.
ReplyDeleteI would try the rum in warm milk for yourself to settle your nervves!