Huh? Really? Do I HAVE to?
So, for the third night in a row Birdy has refused to go to sleep. Tonight she actually managed to get worse...
6:19 -meltdown at dinner... pushed bowl of food into cup... crying over spilt milk, ok... time to get ready for bed as she's rubbing her eyes, right?
So, I gave her a bath, put her in jammies, gave her three chances to pee, brushed her teeth, read a story, cuddled for someing like 10 minutes in the rocking chair... but still, whenever her feet hit the floor she's giggling, squeeling, excited, and so not going to sleep. Then there was the I'm going to kick my feet and scream at you while you're putting my blanket on me. Yeah, that was fun... so around 7:30 I hopped in bed next to her, and well, held/squished her so she couldn't flail and hurt herself (or me) and so she's hopefully calm down and go to sleep. Five hours later she was finally calmed down enough to sleep without me holding her down. Yep, five hours. There went my entire evening... and my woodchuck was warmish and almost flat when I finally made it back to it.
I know there are a lot of parents out there amongst us, does anyone have some sort of toddler-go-to-sleep trick? I've already moved all the toys in the room to the closet, but the kid has a good enough imagination that she can intertain herself without props (just like her mother). If I leave the room she lies there and sings or talks to herself. If I'm in the room she talks to me, even when I ignore her! This really can't keep going on like this... I need sleep! HELP!
6:19 -meltdown at dinner... pushed bowl of food into cup... crying over spilt milk, ok... time to get ready for bed as she's rubbing her eyes, right?
So, I gave her a bath, put her in jammies, gave her three chances to pee, brushed her teeth, read a story, cuddled for someing like 10 minutes in the rocking chair... but still, whenever her feet hit the floor she's giggling, squeeling, excited, and so not going to sleep. Then there was the I'm going to kick my feet and scream at you while you're putting my blanket on me. Yeah, that was fun... so around 7:30 I hopped in bed next to her, and well, held/squished her so she couldn't flail and hurt herself (or me) and so she's hopefully calm down and go to sleep. Five hours later she was finally calmed down enough to sleep without me holding her down. Yep, five hours. There went my entire evening... and my woodchuck was warmish and almost flat when I finally made it back to it.
I know there are a lot of parents out there amongst us, does anyone have some sort of toddler-go-to-sleep trick? I've already moved all the toys in the room to the closet, but the kid has a good enough imagination that she can intertain herself without props (just like her mother). If I leave the room she lies there and sings or talks to herself. If I'm in the room she talks to me, even when I ignore her! This really can't keep going on like this... I need sleep! HELP!