Friday, September 18, 2009

Re-tali-aAAAA- tion

Well, I knew it would come. Genea has really been on a roll since I got back home and doing great. On the surface. She has been pleasant and considerate and helpful. Fun and funny. Calmer, tranquil (sort of). However.



As with all things Genea, don't count your happy chickens before they hatch, or blow their way out of their shell. She has invented a new way of torturing me in particular. Because she knows how important my sleep is to me (yeah, ok I know it is not a plot against me but I swear to you that is how if feels!) . I just. do . not. do. well. without my sleep!


Early Monday morning (remember, I came home from my trip Sunday) Genea is standing in my doorway at 3 AM hissing "Mama..... Mama........ Mama?" Finally I realize that it is not a crummy dream, she is actually standing there and so I ask what is wrong. She says her tummy hurts and I invite her to come and lay with me. She does. But after about 10 minutes, she leaves because she cannot usually fall sleep in my bed. You see, it is not her bed. And if she is going to sleep, all other things being the same as yesterday, it has to be in her bed. Same goes for me in her bed btw, if I make like I am going to lay down with her, she gets all whipped up about me having my own bed and going to it. LOL!




Tuesday morning (middle of the night) was a special one. 3 AM and here she comes. "Mama..... Mama..... Mama.....". What, Genea. (put down your coffee warning) She says, my butt itches. Ok, I am still trying to stay asleep, desperately, and get into this as little as possible so I make a critical mistake.... I tell her we will put lotion on it in the morning. No, Mama, we should do it now, my butt itches now. I muttered some crap about it won't work through the fabric of her jammies if we do it now and somehow she accepts this, and back to her own bed.



Wednesday afternoon I decided to have a little talk with her about this new attack on my sleep. A little talk that included phrases like "never again" and the like. See, I am out of patience quick on this since I am so danged tired. I really tried to be kind and even asked her if she was scared when I was gone so now she needs to check to be sure I am there. No, was the answer. Definitely not. Very certain of that. (Too bad kid, cuz I would have been much more accommodating for that one!)



Thursday morning. I hear Genea crying in the bathroom, about 4 AM. Trying uselessly to hang on to my sleep I asked The Husband what was going on. Turns out Genea listened to me, and did not wake me up. Instead, she stood at the door whispering..... "Daddy..... Daddy..... daddy...". Even in my attempts to stay unconscious, I saw the uproarious humor in that one. The problem du jour was that she had gone to the bathroom and said she could not get her diaper back on.



Now for anyone that is thinking, well you crummy parents, she probably DID have a problem getting her diaper back on. That has to be hard to do, especially in the middle of the night! Jerks! Lousy people! Poor little girl! So if you are thinking that, let me tell you a fun story.

On Wednesday morning, not six months ago but this very weeks same Wednesday morning, Genea made a big point of telling The Husband that her overnight diaper was dry! Woo hoo! Party on dude! High 5's were passed around. Until The Husband noticed a wet diaper was on the floor. Yeah, ewww is right. Turns out this child is a diaper changing savant when she is trying to put one over on you. And mind you, there is nothing to be gained or lost. We still use nighttime diapers and we do not care. There are no prizes for a dry one and no mention of wet ones. So she is like Rain Man driving the Cadillac (or whatever it was) when she woke up and whipped off the wet one and flipped on a dry one lickety split to pull her scam. Only she left her evidence on the floor.

Thursday we had many discussions about cranky parents who get no sleep and children who continue to want and need things from their parents. Cause and effect girls. You want 'fill in the blank'. Your parents are tired and do not have the energy to get you 'fill in the blank'. Why are your parents tired? Mmmm hmmm, yup yup. So what are you going to do next time? Mmmm hmmm, good idea, stay in your bed and don't wake anyone up.

Friday morning what happened? Who is wondering? Who thinks our great supportive, encouraging and interactive reciprocal parenting technique has been successful? Right around 4 AM, who was sleeping and who wasn't? Well, we all would have been sleeping evidently were it not for a certain owee hurting a certain child. What turned out to be an invisible phantom owee. Not her fault. The owee flared up then disappeared prior to sunrise.

aaaaargh tired ssrrrrrreeeaeeeeeeeeeet irritated gaaalooooooooooo screaming grrrrrrrrr !!!!!

13 comments:

  1. Oh, I am cringing for you. So frustrating. It is so hard not to take this stuff personally.

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  2. Essie, I can completely sympathize with you. This has been the story of my life for the past 10 years. My children DO NOT respect my sleep. It is a very real reason that I am taking anti-depressants - I NEVER get enough sleep.

    Get on top of it now, sister, before you start having psychotic episodes!

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  3. Oh how I hear you on the sleep. I am one grumpy, cantankerous mom without adequate sleep.

    Is it nap time yet?

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  4. As one approaching the start of the dreaded "midnight" (i.e. 2-4 a.m.) teaching stint on Sunday night, my sympathy is at the ready. Sleep is sooooooo wonderful, especially appreciated when you can't get it.

    My guess is that it IS actually her checking to see if you are there. She just isn't savvy enough to realize what her subconscious is up to. Let's just hope she realizes that you are, indeed home for good, so that it doesn't become a pattern.

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  5. Hmm. My children know if they wake me at night, there better be blood, poop, pee, or vomit involved. Ok, or a nightmare.

    Maybe you could say, "You know Genea, Mommy is sooooo tired from having to get up with you, that we're going to have to start taking naps in the afternoon so I can get caught up on my sleep." Unless she already does.

    *sticker chart* (HAHAHAHAHAHA)

    Or she can do some sort of restitution (a chore, or a nice lovey thing like rub your back for 10 minutes or brush your hair) every time she wakes you up.

    Just some thoughts.
    Corey
    www.watchingthewaters.wordpress.com

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  6. I don't do well with sleep deprivation either. Which is ironic, considering my career.

    Hope it gets better ASAP. Did you learn any cool tips at your BC seminar that you can test out on her?

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  7. Oh, boy, I can sympathize with the sleep deprivation. It's amazing how quickly you can go downhill without some good sleep. I'm sorry--I hope it gets easier soon!

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  8. Sunny used to wake us up at 4am in the morning sometimes. He wasn't subtle about it. He would just scream "GOODNIGHT" at the top of his lungs until we responded.

    He stopped doing it after we started neurofeedback therapy... The neurofeedback didn't accomplish much otherwise, but it I think it really helped his sleep patterns.

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  9. One of my lovely RADishes must be drug (dragged?) out of bed Mon-Fri mornings but come the weekend, that child is banging on my bedroom wall at 6AM. Her room is right next to mine and she knocks to have me turn off her alarm. Then I stumble around until she is done, put her back in the room so I can climb back into bed, and I can usually snooze for about 30 more minutes before the banging begins again...Mom is not happy on weekends!

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  10. Lock your door and don't open it no matter what. Get earplugs if necessary. Giver her Benedryl. Whatever it takes.
    My sister, who is a very evil mommy, solved the waking up in the middle of the night thing by telling her kids there were ghosts in the hall outside the master bedroom door who came out late at night and lurked around looking for little kids to scare.

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  11. Yeah, I think she really is checking to see if we are there and available. I can't underestimate the trauma of her background. We have gone around on this many times before and this is a vast improvement to the firey meltdowns we used to get.
    Heather Forbes would probably say, find the fear and stay in the moment. Stay loving and regulated. I am guessing anyway, since of the 200 things that were covered this was not one (imagine).
    After the 7th consecutive night I resorted to my old favorite "bribe and threaten parenting". Donuts for breakfast if you do not wake us up. Clean the litterboxes if you do. Parenting through fear is not my favorite way, but it worked. Now, I can be regulated lol.

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  12. Being regulated when you are awoken from sleep is certainly one of the great challenges of parenting.

    BT Parenting has certainly worked well for me time and again. Perhaps we could start our own parenting classes.

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  13. Ha ha, we could call it... hmmm. Beyond Bribery. Threaten and Control with Love. Donuts Never Fail. LMAO!!!

    Sunday Genea roped Teena into waking us up, but Teena is old enough now to suffer her own consequences. Genea was so proud of herself that she stayed in bed and didnt call out to us! She reminded us all day.

    Psychotic is right, I woke up on my own last night around 4. Arghh, then the coffee pot broke this morning. Arghhhhhhh.

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