Skip to main content

tired girl = MONSTER!

i'm so at a loss for what to do with layla lately.  she's given up naps but still technically needs them.  but if she does nap, she stays up until like 10pm.  either way, it's a bad situation.  now, with the whole time change thing, she's getting up before the crack of dawn, making things even better.  every evening is a huge struggle now, leaving me trying to get dinner ready and deal with micah's antics, shane's activities and whatnot, with her whining or falling apart or fighting with shane or getting into trouble because she gets all hung up on doing something that i'm telling her not to do.  it is MOST unpleasant.  then, by the time dinner is actually on the table, she's too wigged out and almost never eats it, something i'm sure is doing wonders for her general mood as well.  then comes the getting jammies on/brushing teeth/getting into bed battle.  it's like it never ends.  she's so tired she can't function in a civilized fashion, but she won't just go to bed.  that's when she gets all high-maintenance and insists on taking up gobs of my time that i can't give her because i have 2 other kids that are usually attempting in one way or another to get my attention too. 

what do i do here? do i try to make her take a nap (which is a battle in itself, and usually unsuccessful) and then deal with her up all night? or do i keep having her power through and deal with nightly HELL?  either way, she's driving me crazy and right now my evenings really suck! 

Comments

  1. RachelNovember 4, 2008 at 7:01 PM

    Ok...I have had some of this with Rachel and in the end we created a chart with an incentive at the weekend if she was good during the week. So on Rachel's chart I would have... be a good girl, have no fuss on, go to bed like a good girl, clean teeth, etc...etc. I know Rachel has never really been a napper and if she does have a lie in on a morning or for any reason she does have a sleep during the day then we are doomed when it comes to bed time. Also if Rachel gets over tired then we are screwed too and she won't sleep then either and I am talking raising the flippin roof with tantrums and hysterics!
    So...i have to keep her sleeping patterns consistant and get her up early and get her to bed at a decent time! Have you tried putting Layla to bed at say 6.30pm in the hope that she will adjust to a suitable sleep pattern.
    Rachel...at the end of the day, all you can do is keep your fingers crossed and hope she gets through this quickly!
    I am thinking of you and the site for the charts that I use is:
    http://www.dltk-cards.com/chart/index.html
    Rachel and I build them together so we can set goals together and so she understands why she has a chart she gets quite excited to chose the theme and help decide what her goals should be and what 'prize' she would like if she gets lots of stickers on her chart!
    Good luck Rachel! Otherwise just sell her! HaHa Just kidding OBVIOUSLY!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

all comments are moderated. unkind comments will be deleted.

you may like...

first day of school

so, we started school today. this is a big deal because it is OUR first day of official homeschooling. you know, here. at home. most everyone reading this is already aware of the fact that shane has been homeschooled since first grade, but that he has spent the majority of that ‘school’ time, with my mother as his ‘teacher’. this was a fine arrangement, she was willing and more than qualified, and he was learning. but for a variety of reasons, not the least of which being my mother’s current cancer issues, it had become clear that it was time for me to take over. AND,with layla being 4 now, i really wanted to do a little bit more preschool stuff with her. being a little bit of a chicken flake, i (with much urging from my loving husband) decided the best route to go would be with a packaged curriculum. i figured it would be the most time-effective way to cover what we needed to cover, and be somewhat dummy-proof, but at the same time, having the option to supplement with as much
3 comments
read more »

i have "done something"

about shane's room. if you notice over there on my BIG FAT TO DO LIST, for ages now, i've had "do something about shane's room" on the list. and it has sat there on the list, doing nothing.  well yesterday, we "did something". i couldn't put "clean shane's room".  that wouldn't really cover it.  i wasn't sure exactly how to phrase what is was that needed to be done in there, mainly because i don't really know the proper grammatical term for "set off 4 sticks of dynamite followed by much jackhammering and industrial vacuuming".  needless to say, it was a pit! every saturday, one of his chores is to clean his room.  but at this point, that was just putting clothes in the basket, books on the shelf, toys in bins, etc.  anything else was WAY too big of an undertaking for a 9 year old boy on his way out the door. sadly, i didn't think to take a 'before' picture, so i didn't bother with an '
1 comment
read more »

for my not-so-american friends

i didn't have an actual roll w/ the green plaid on it, but i found a refill and an empty roll in my junk drawer (yeah, i know, that should tell me something).  but even the empty one says 'scotch' on it.  there you go!  SCOTCH TAPE!
8 comments
read more »

Micah’s Birthday

This kid had the audacity to turn 13 yesterday… As was expected, I was a bit of a hot mess about the whole affair. Here’s his “last day to be 12” photo. He ran out of fingers a couple years ago, so taking a page out of Shane’s book, he borrowed a couple of feet from the cat to make 12. But, not too old to choose Lucky Charms for his birthday breakfast. He got his happy birthday facetime call first thing and got to open his gift from Gramma and Skip while they watched… He’s had a boom box on his list this year. You might remember that 2 years ago, it was a Walkman. The obsession with 80s audio continues. Gramma found this one and it seems to fit the bill. Looks totally retro, plays and records tapes but also has radio AND a USB port so he could use some modern tech with it, as well. So, he spent the morning taking advantage of the birthday allowances of not having to do his weekend chores and lifted time limits on video games… all while listening to the radio or one
Post a Comment
read more »

project life–week 18

the three amigos… this trio of the neighbors’ poultry is always in my parents’ yard. and spark way too many “why did the chicken cross the road” jokes. these are the two lilacs I gave my mom for mother’s day two years ago. last year, only one bloomed. looks like this year, both will have some nice flowers! when I get to the bottom of a bag of chips and they’re too small to effectively scoop up salsa, I just dump them in a bowl, pour salsa over them, and eat the whole delicious mess with a spoon. not ashamed. dave got himself a new set of bike tools. everyone had to check it out. first grade music concert. micah had a solo! saturday baseball fun. pitching, homerun derby, bouncy houses, dunk the coach… and of course, eating kettle corn and horsing around.
Post a Comment
read more »