Because we need one more battle

So from my previous posts you may have gathered that Madeline is a handful.

No?

Then you need to re-read my blog posts from the last month or two.

Honestly, she's trouble.

Any who,

Madeline has stopped napping. We started having trouble with her afternoon nap last summer (in late June early July I think). Since then there hasn't been a week where she has napped every day. At first it was just one or two days a week. Then she was up more than she slept.

I kept with it. I tried not to make it a battle. I instituted a 'rest' instead of a nap. She just had to stay quiet in her room. Some days she'd fall asleep. Some days she wouldn't.

In the last four weeks she has napped once.

ONCE.

So, we gave it up.

It's been ok. She goes to bed earlier which works out really well for our family schedule. She still has quite time in the afternoon but now it is down stairs not in her room. I miss my time alone in the afternoon and I can't watch Days of Our Lives any more, but maybe I shouldn't have been watching that in the first place. Just sayin'.

For a week she went to bed without much trouble. Now this week, again, all bets are off. The other night she said she was afraid so I turned on her closet light and left the door open just a little. She was quiet for a long time. Then she came down stairs with this:


Sorry the photo is fuzzy, I didn't have the flash on.

She is wearing her jammies, a STL Blues jersey and has a dress (that is two sizes too small) on a hanger and is asking for help.

Why does she need help?

Because of this:

Yep. My little fighter looks like she got into a brawl on the ice and someone pulled her jersey over her head. Really she just wanted it off so she could put on the dress.

So it has gone on almost every night this week. We put her to bed. She tries every stall tactic in the book.

"I'm thirsty. Tell me about my day. What are we doing tomorrow. I can't sleep without a hug. I need more kisses. I love you. I need you."

That last one breaks my heart.

She also raids her closet and tries to put on every outfit. I guess this should motivate me to clean out her closet (there are sizes from 24 months to 5T in there). For now I've just tried putting everything on the higher bars.

So this is just one more test being thrown our way by our just turned 3 year old. As my first born Madeline is my best teacher. I'd like to think I am getting good grades as a mother, although I know I have failed at times, I'm learning. She is pulling out all the stops to make sure I am learning a lot. I am sure Lydia will appreciate all of Madeline's hard work.

mg