So, let me preface by saying I love Connor more than anything and I wouldn't change one thingabout him. With that being said, we have had the most challenging 4 months of our lives. Amongst other things, Connor has developed a raging case of the terrible 2's. I thought what we went through at 18 months was bad....I was WRONG. I have never seen one kid go through so many emotions in one minute....happy, sad, angry, frustrated, and back to happy. I know most of this is related to his age and of course the arrival of his Baby Ryan.
Connor had started hitting, pushing, and poking his friends at school and refusing to sleep on his nap mat during nap time. Instead, he would get up and scream. And I don't mean crying scream, I mean the kind of scream that will bust ear drums. This behavior also started to spill over to home. He was refusing to take naps, refusing to eat, and would pretty much scream at the top of his lungs when asked to do anything. I mean, we could ask him to sit down and eat ice cream and he would throw himself on the ground and scream so loud we might all need hearing aids. This of course makes Ryan start crying which makes Mom want to cry.
After months of battling it out with Connor, I mean seriously it was his will against ours, we decided to soften our approach. We started giving him hugs when he would get frustrated and start to throw a fit and tell him we loved him. We also would acknowledge his anger instead of sending him to time out for being angry with us. Of course he still has to obey and will be sent to his room or time out for blatantly not obeying when we ask him to stop doing something like kicking, hitting, putting feet on the table, or screaming (just to name a few common offenders). I was surprised to notice that within a week of softening our approach with Connor (and making sure he was getting good sleep) things have started to improve. He has become so pleasant to be around again. He is the most polite little boy. He always says thank you, please, yes ma'm, no sir, good morning, etc. Some many people have commented on how polite he is. Needless to say, I am so happy to have my sweet/loving baby back....actually big boy!
On top of all this terrible two business we have started sleep training our sweet Baby Ryan. I HATE sleep training. It is so hard. The baby cries, Mom cries, and Dad doesn't understand why everyone is crying! :) From Day 1, Ryan has loved to be held. For the first 8 wks of his life he would only sleep during the day if he was being walked and bounced around the house. Let me tell you my shoulder is SHOT from all the hours of walking and rocking we have done. As we type I can feel the ache and the shooting pain down my arm. Needless to say, we just can't keep doing it. We are all exhausted and hurting. So, it is time for Ryan to figure out how to soothe himself. This part is really hard. When time for sleep, whether it be nap or bed we will soothe him for about 5 minutes to get him drowsy and then its into bed. Some days are better than others. Some days he may only cry for 5 min. and then he is fast asleep and others (like today) he cries FOREVER. I go in every 10-15 min and give him his paci (which he immediately spits out) and tell him it will be okay, etc without picking him up. Then, I leave the room and the process starts all over. Today has been horrible. After 30 min of this cycle I finally give in an pick him up and rock/walk him and of course he falls asleep within 2 min. So, I put him back in bed. 5 min later he wakes up crying again! Can you tell I am sitting here listening to him cry right now and my blood pressure is rising. HEHE Luckily, when he wakes up at night to nurse he goes right back to sleep and I have no problem transferring him back into his bed. So, really the tough parts are naps and bedtime. I really don't remember Connor being this hard to get to sleep. Either I have a major case of amnesia or this kid is so much harder than Connor. *sigh*
Well, enough of the complaints for one day. Everyone has to have a post like this once in awhile right! Off to pick up my screaming baby and rock him to sleep. UGH!
