A (partial) disaster of a vacation
So we are in Canada now, or at least Isabel and I are (Erik is still home working, but he is coming up at the end of next week). Sadly, it's not working out for us at all. My normally easy-going, unflappable little girl is completely thrown by travel this year. She is unable to fall asleep. Naps are out (although we were having trouble with those before we left Austin), and bedtime is a long, long struggle. Last night she had a bath at 8.30, then stories, and she was in bed by 9pm. She did not calm down enough to fall asleep until after midnight. Three hours of whining, sobbing, begging to go back home, begging for a hug, and most of all me putting her back in bed over and over and over.
She is not entirely sane with this little sleep, and she has very little control over herself, so reasoning with her or asking her to try to do something (like stay in bed) doesn't help either of us. I have been trying everything I can think of to help her fall asleep, I tried staying with her, lying beside her in the bed, sitting quietly in her room, sitting quietly just outside her room, promising to come back in two minutes, and finally telling her she's on her own and she's just going to have to work it out for herself. It's that horse-and-water problem, though, and all I am really accomplishing is helping her to stay just this side of hysterical. The more tired she is, the less comfortable she is being on her own in a bedroom or even being anywhere but in my lap. And after four days of compromised sleep, she's very tired. It's exhausting and frustrating for me, and I haven't been this underslept and unhappy since her last illness as a baby where she had that freaky spasm cough all night long and I wanted to take her to the hospital. She is of course not eating well either, and I'm pretty confident that she will be sick in a few more days, on top of everything else. It's horrible to think, but it has crossed my mind that if she does get sick, maybe she will sleep at night. Of course I don't want her to get sick, but a mama's got to sleep too!
Our hope now is that after a few more days of being away from home, she will adjust, and we can get her back to sleeping at night and having fun during the day. After three days of this, I called Erik and told him I wanted to change our tickets home to, well, tomorrow if possible, but he convinced me to give it another try, so that's what we're doing. The good news is that the only thing I have to accomplish is dealing with Isabel: my days are free here to spend trying to get exercise into her in the morning so that she can eat a big lunch and then nap in the afternoon and hopefully be in good shape for going to bed in the evening. That's it, that's my only goal for the week. It's not how I wanted to spend our vacation together, but at least I am not committed to trying to accomplish other things at the same time. That would be a complete disaster!
She is not entirely sane with this little sleep, and she has very little control over herself, so reasoning with her or asking her to try to do something (like stay in bed) doesn't help either of us. I have been trying everything I can think of to help her fall asleep, I tried staying with her, lying beside her in the bed, sitting quietly in her room, sitting quietly just outside her room, promising to come back in two minutes, and finally telling her she's on her own and she's just going to have to work it out for herself. It's that horse-and-water problem, though, and all I am really accomplishing is helping her to stay just this side of hysterical. The more tired she is, the less comfortable she is being on her own in a bedroom or even being anywhere but in my lap. And after four days of compromised sleep, she's very tired. It's exhausting and frustrating for me, and I haven't been this underslept and unhappy since her last illness as a baby where she had that freaky spasm cough all night long and I wanted to take her to the hospital. She is of course not eating well either, and I'm pretty confident that she will be sick in a few more days, on top of everything else. It's horrible to think, but it has crossed my mind that if she does get sick, maybe she will sleep at night. Of course I don't want her to get sick, but a mama's got to sleep too!
Our hope now is that after a few more days of being away from home, she will adjust, and we can get her back to sleeping at night and having fun during the day. After three days of this, I called Erik and told him I wanted to change our tickets home to, well, tomorrow if possible, but he convinced me to give it another try, so that's what we're doing. The good news is that the only thing I have to accomplish is dealing with Isabel: my days are free here to spend trying to get exercise into her in the morning so that she can eat a big lunch and then nap in the afternoon and hopefully be in good shape for going to bed in the evening. That's it, that's my only goal for the week. It's not how I wanted to spend our vacation together, but at least I am not committed to trying to accomplish other things at the same time. That would be a complete disaster!