Operation Toddler Bed

Meatball's attempts to escape his crib (not when he's trying to sleep, but when he's waking up, mostly) were met with an abrupt bed shift on Friday night. Musical Daddy removed the crib and replaced it with the little toddler bed that we had bought for The Boy and had used with very little success. We didn't want Meatball taking a header out of the crib, and his climbing technique indicated that he was moving in that direction.

Friday night was the first night. I should mention that it wasn't a great evening anyway. We attended Tot Shabbat at our shul, which should be lots of fun. This is also where The Boy goes to preschool, and some of his friends from school were there, as well as one of his teachers who just adores him. However, our kids are a little squirrely to begin with, and they seem to reserve the most resistance to group participation for these events. The Boy ate nothing but strawberries, despite the fact that we thought to bring noodles and sauce as our potluck entry. Meatball ate well, but then, he always does.

The kids weren't listening, weren't staying with us, were wandering off, and in a moment of Mean Mommy-ness, I decided that the perfect time to throw in the towel and leave the event was when we finished the services and returned to the reception room for dessert. Yes, I pulled the old "you didn't listen, so now you don't get ice cream." I'm not entirely proud of that but frankly, I was tired of chasing them around and I figured that they'd had enough of the group setting. Unfortunate that they missed ice cream as a result.

With regards to the bed, though, the first two nights have been...not too bad. The first night, which followed the missing of ice cream, involved a long time of Musical Daddy sitting with Meatball and putting him back in bed and playing him recordings and such. When we finally got him to sleep, he stayed asleep until 7:30 AM. The second night involved putting Meatball in bed and after a few minutes of wandering around, he snuggled in and slept. However, he was up at 2:30 and wouldn't go back to sleep, either with us or in his bed. I'm completely fine with children visiting our bed at night, if they actually sleep. If they come in to play, then they get bounced back to bed. It was 3:30 when Meatball stopped resisting his bed, after being back and forth between his bed and ours, and he slept until 7:30 again.

Naptime was a bit of a bear yesterday. We started the nap process late, and he didn't really want to nap, and he kept getting out of bed. In my stubbornness I missed that he was getting out of bed and going to the changing table because he had poo in his pants. After fixing that, he went down for his nap and was fine.

I felt bad because there have been more tears during this process than I prefer with regards to my kids and bed. I don't like it when my kids cry. No one does. But there seemed to be little I could do to fix it. If he'd actually do it, I'd snuggle him to sleep or almost to sleep and then put him in bed. If he'd nap with me like The Boy still does, I'd be glad to forgo independent napping for Meatball in favor of a consistent family nap. I could just say that Meatball can make a decision himself about naps and whether he needs them or not, but that's not realistic either. He has frequently said that he wants to rest, and has been put in his crib to do so without any complaint. So it isn't as if he doesn't want to rest; he just is unaccustomed to the new venue.

I lament the fact that Meatball has been SUCH a low-maintenance sleeper, even when he was waking up in the middle of the night for feedings, and now we actually have to work at getting him to bed. Maybe. If he can go to bed like he did last night and stay asleep like he did the night before, we'll be fine.

It's interesting to see Meatball at 22 months now, which is the age that The Boy was when Meatball was born. Back then, I had two babies. Now I've got two little boys who talk and climb and run around. Not that it's a fair comparison because of the whole illness factor, but Meatball at this age is SO different than The Boy was.

As for The Boy, he isn't feeling very well right now. We're going to take him to the doctor tomorrow--he had this fever with wheezing and coughing thing that went away and came back. Could be just another kiddie cold; could be something a little more serious that requires medication.

And finally, on the list of Things That Aren't Fair, I wanted to mention that we have some new angels. A little girl who is the daughter of my sister's colleague lost her fight with cancer at age 4. The funeral was this past Friday. Also, Meghan Henry, a 22 year old nursing student and long time Wilms Tumor patient, passed away late Friday night.

We live our normal lives, and yet, in the back of our minds are these stories of these friends that we've never met but with whom we are connected thanks to our membership in this exclusive club we never really wanted to join.

David has his next oncology checkup on Monday, May 16. We hope and pray that he remains disease-free.