Night Time Mommy Woes

Well look at that, the elusive Mrs. P blogging twice in one day! Who'da thunk in the days of my random and very spotty blogging?! Maybe I'm slowly coming back!

Anyway, my post now is not about my blogging habits, as bad as they've been lately, it's about my little diva and her recent night time... difficulties, we'll call them.

Little Miss AP will be 20 months old this month. Can you believe she is almost 2?! Four months and my baby girl will be 2. Holy cow! With this age, comes many new triumphs and challenges. She has grown such the little personality and is such a joy to be around, when she wants to be. It seems the "terrible twos" may be hitting her earlier than the inferred "TWO," (hence, terrible twos). She's become quite the fit thrower and loves testing her limits. Honestly, it's not so bad. There are some moments during the day she makes me want to pull my hair out, but most the time, I find myself trying to suppress a giggle rather than be upset. It's tough, let me tell you - It's so funny, seeing so much personality, determination, independence and sheer will in a person so small.

Her vocabulary is certainly growing and I just love hearing her say new words. She knows mom, momma, and mommy and uses them with different emphasis throughout the day. She knows grandma (and how to yell it) as well as grandpa and papa (she uses them interchangeably for my dad). She can say Bad Dog with a pointed finger when the dogs are not listening (we're at my mom's, there are 3 here right now). She can say bubble and balloon, stick and deck, and she'll bring you a book saying book when she wants to read. She will point to her diaper and say "Poopoo" and grandma taught her the very descriptive UGH (it's usually a "poopoo UGH" greeting me after nap time). These are just a few examples. She understands even more than what she can currently express. She'll pick up her trash and throw it away, she'll do "nice nice" on the dog, she'll hand you things (if she wants), she'll come, she'll go, she'll dance. She does what she's told very well... when she wants to.

Using a fallen tree branch piece to "sweep" the walk way - she came up with this all on her own!

At this age, she's very adamant about what she wants. Even if it's something that makes no sense. For instance, yesterday she wanted the loaf of bread. We thought she wanted a slice of bread, so grandpa gave her one. She put it back in the bag then took the bag and carried it around. She wasn't so happy when it was taken away from her. She also wants things even more when she has been told no already. That's when the fits are the strongest, I'm telling you, the girl is determined.

All these new qualities are quite exhilirating for a mommy. Sure, they can wear me out sometimes, but usually it's just amazing seeing all the new things she can do and understand. She really is becoming a little... person (not that she wasn't before but now she can do things... moms... you know what I mean).

The thing I'm having the biggest 'woe' about right now, we can call it, is her sleep patterns. My daughter just doesn't seem to feel like sleeping lately. I'm not talking about just naps either, I'm talking about sleeping period. Every night around 2 or 3 am, I hear her chattering away. Sometimes she'll make soft cries but usually just makes sounds or sings. I try to leave her because I know my daughter - you go in and fuss with her and it's all down hill from there. She's much better at putting herself to sleep, as soon as another person enters the equation it's wide awake and play time. I keep wondering why she is waking up at the wee hours of the morning. We have a solid bed time routine that really hasn't changed... well... ever. Even as much as we travel/visit grandma, I try my very hardest to stick to the same bedtime routines, including the time she goes down (between 730 and 830, it can vary slightly depending on when the sleepies hit her and when her nap was, etc). She often has a poopy diaper in the morning, so I began wondering if it was around 2 or 3am she was waking up because she had to poop. I thought maybe it could be her last cup of milk before bed, so for the last few days I've tried without it. She hasn't been poopy but I still hear her talking in the wee hours of the morning if at least just a few minutes every night.

Then last night, we had the epitome of wee hours wake up. I had heard her talking a little around 230 and just let her be. Around 3 I heard her make a weird sound, kind of like a choke or gag then it was real quiet. Of course I had to go in and check on her. When I opened the door, I heard her move and peaked and saw she was fine. I shut the door after just sticking my head in and after that it was DONE. She was up and she was YELLING. I tried everything. I tried rocking her back to sleep, I changed her, I spoke softly to her, rubbed her head, rubbed her back, patted her, snuggled in bed with her, putting her back in her own bed and leaving, putting her back in her own bed and laying down in the other bed... Nothing worked. She doesn't sleep well with me, she wants to move around and try to play so even though I tried that didn't work either. At 520, my mom took over. She gave her some milk in case she was hungry and some itchy medicine for her misquito bites that she was digging at. But see, she was good and quiet as long as I or grandma were there with her, she just wouldn't sleep. As soon as she was put back into bed, she was standing, arms up, screaming again. Mom snuggled with her so I could try to sleep and around 7 she finally went back to sleep, waking up again at 820.

She went down for a nap around 1230 and actually took a decent nap today, getting quiet around 1 and waking up around 3 - unlike the last few days. My daughter used to nap like me (or like I would like to, lol) - for 2-3 hours a day, usually around 1230. Lately, we're lucky if we can get her to stay upstairs for an hour, let alone sleep. I don't want to push naps too hard but the problem is if she doesn't nap, around 5 o'clock she gets outright mean because she's tired.

Tonight, putting her down, she cried much louder than usual. Nothing has been changed about the room she's in and these sleep issues have just been the last week or so we've been here, not the entire time we've been here. She gets put in bed and instead of laying right down, whimpering a little and drifting off, she's standing up with her arms out screaming. She got a few extra cuddles tonight to try to calm her down but the same thing kept happening. It took her about 15 minutes to finally stop crying and then probably another 15-20 of talking before it was quiet up there.

I'm guessing this change in sleep is probably part of all the other changes coming along with this stage of life, but if anyone made it through to the end of the post (I know it's been a long one, I can talk about my kid all day long!) I could use some possible insight or tips. Or even just an "I've been there, it passes" would be nice. I feel like I'm at my wit's end. At least she is sleeping now and I'm praying - very hard - that we don't have an episode like last night's. Those nights are tough for me as a mommy too because 1. I hate hearing my baby girl cry like that, it was sooo heart breaking and 2. I'm a raging insomniac so I was just laying down to attempt sleep when this all started.

Here's hoping she gets a nice sound sleep tonight, and mommy and grandma (and grandpa, can't forget him!) can, too!