Crafty Toddler

I haven't blogged for a while, too tired. James is giving us some problems at night. We are revisiting Cry It Out because he has been waking up multiple times at night, crying and begging for attention or his dropped blankie. So usually he is able to go right back to sleep, but sometimes its only for an hour or so before the next wake-up. This is unacceptable. Jim started his new job this week, this Mama is exhausted, and its just not good for James in the long run to be getting into this habit. So last night, especially, I let James cry it out. I swear I did not sleep myself until 2am.

His first wake-up was soon after his bedtime! At 8ish we heard him crying and we did go to him and hand him back his blankie. Well, not even half an hour later it was another crying session. I let him cry for 10 minutes before I went up. I think that was it until 10:30. The details are all fuzzy after this point because I can't remember if we let him cry each time or if out of our own sleepiness/frustration we did give in and hand him back his blankie. Well, anyway, I got up three more times later that night. I let him cry for 15+ minutes the first two times and I finally TOLD him, if you drop Blankie again, Mama is NOT coming in right away. So that last time I let him cry for 30+ minutes. It was the hardest night. I think from 10:30 on, I slept horribly if at all. Finally at 2am, the last time I went to his room, I went in because he was jumping on the mattress. He hadn't dropped his Blankie but it was hidden underneath his other blanket. So he was reunited with Blankie and slept until Jim got him up for the morning at 6:40.

Again, all of these details are fuzzy because I feel a little out of my mind. I am tired, stressed, and am trying hard to not let this affect Jim as he started his new job. I just hope that this weekend we can "train" him with the Cry It Out to NOT drop the Blankie and expect us to come each time he cries. I know I just need to be strong and think of what's best for him in the long run.

On a positive note, James and I attended our first art class last night. I was a bit disappointed with it but at least we got out of the house and away from the "TC" (TV). I was disappointed because James was the only child for the first 10 minutes (of the 30min) class, and when I asked about how many kids were registered, the instructor said two. So finally another family arrives, but with two kids. They were cute but they sat far from us, and then the instructor gave James and I a "craft kit" and let us fend for ourselves. She spent most of her time with the other family, probably because of the two kids. I did the best I could with the craft, but really it wasn't age appropriate. The class description said 2-6 years old, so I guess we were on the low end of the range, but still. I don't think we'll go back to that class. We have another class next week that I'm anxious to try. Its the MESSY art class :)

James waits on Mama to go to the art class. All bundled up.


I attached the glue dots to the snowflakes and James attached them to the blue heart.






The next craft kit was way too hard so James just played with the pieces.


Dada gets home later now so James was VERY excited to see him once we got home. Actually, during the car ride home, James kept asking "Dada! Where are you?" but it sounded more like- "Dada! Whirrr arrr you?" It was very cute. James very excitedly read books with Dada.






So wish us luck with sleeping this weekend!
Happy Birthday to Bucka Rosie this last Wednesday! We'll see her on Saturday :)