Was it the Super Moon? Or the promise of popcorn and pirate booty?
Om my goodness, the bean slept through the night…twice!
On Saturday night (super moon night, when moon comes closest to our planet) Mrs Bean put her in bed, waited until she fell asleep and whenever she woke Mrs Bean would go in, pat her, assure her we were nearby, tell her that she needed to sleep in her bed, and give her kisses when she started to drowse again. So – the night of May 5th, 2012, Kai stayed in her bed all night – waking some but getting out of bed after 5:30-ish to have her milk (in our bed). As a reward we got her popcorn and pirate booty at the grocery store, told her she could have it because she was a big girl and stayed all night in her bed, and that we were soooo proud of her.
Sunday night, I put Kai to bed and patted her in her first wakeup. She had another wakeup after we went to bed, but stayed in bed until 5:45, when she declared she wanted her milk. After waking up post-milk (7:15?) she said she wanted popcorn and pirate booty for breakfast!
It will totally be worth popcorn and pirate booty if she will stay in bed all night…is this the light at the end of the tunnel? Will she be able to sleep all night without our intervention soon? Hopefully!!
Some night protests:
“I want Mama to sleep in bed with me!”
“I want to sleep in Mommy Mama’s bed!”
“Come here” (grabbing my neck and pulling me to her)
2010 Adoption tax credit – review finally over!
Kai was born in November 2009 and our adoption finalized in June of 2010. I filed for the adoption tax credit with my 2010 taxes, got a notice that they needed proof, sent in proof, got a notice that they needed explanations, sent in explanations, and am finally done with the process. They are allowing lawyer fees for the adoption and home study fees, all other fees were rejected.
So, with baby #2, this time around, I will be keeping receipts, photocopying receipts and paperwork and I will also send in a letter explaining the hows and whys of our adoptions papers. In Kai’s papers, they were confused as to why our preliminary filing occurred before the adoption date…because we knew we were expecting a child!! I want to add a “duhhhh” but I know they have lots of cases to go through and are trying to prevent fraud….I just wish we didn’t have to go through this process. It’s expensive, a pain and just….oh so frustrating!
Songs for Kai’s little brother
Mrs Bean told me this story last night:
Kai said that when her baby brother comes out, she will sing him a song. She will sing “why are there so many”, “happy birthday” and “ABCs”. And nothing else.
Kai loves to sing! And she loves the Rainbow Connection song (for sleeping). I think it’s interesting that those are all the songs she wants to sing to him – there ar so many other songs she could sing to him!
Now that Kai is choosing her own outfits…
Dressing herself means that she can wear as many striped items as she wants.
Dressing herself also means: 3 shirts, pants, a tutu and her frog boots.
Being a child who knows what she wants, she will also try and paint on her outfit...
What Kai says
I love listening to Kai figure out how to use words for the ideas she’s trying to express. Some of it isn’t all that fun for us, though.
==================
Kai: Mama mommy. Wake up. Get up. Right now!
—-
Me: (singing along with Kai’s music)
Kai: No! Mama, stop. No talk. No sing. Just Kai.
—-
Mrs Bean: Kai, you need to go to sleep
Kai: Mommy, I trying.
—-
Mrs Bean: When we get home it’ll be time for napping.
Kai: (very angry) No! No say that!!! Stop it.
—-
Kai: Yesterday I go to gym with Simon. I happy.
—-
Mrs Bean: Before we get in the car, you need to go potty.
Kai: No, Mommy get more pants.
—-
Kai: One Two and Iguh-nition BLASTOFF
Heard Indirectly: I Winning, Dancing at Bedtime
I Winning
Kai likes to run right a boy who lives down the street, she’ll run while he rides his pre-bike (pedal-less 2-wheeled bike). The other day, his dad was telling me about how they were travelling around the block and Kai was about 10 feet in front of her friend when she turned her head, smiled a giant smile and yelled “I WINNING!!”
I’m pretty sure she learned that phrase from her preschool…
Dancing at Bedtime
Somebody suggested to Mrs Bean that it might help to sing to Kai at bedtime. She still doesn’t fall asleep very easily or very quickly. So…Mrs Bean tried and Kai ended up dancing on the bed to the singing. So…singing at bedtime is a no-go.
kick kick kick!
I was able to feel the baby kick today! He/she was dancing a little jig for a little while.
Wow!
Sleep, oh sleep
Sleep. People always tell you that having a baby/toddler/child is tiring but I never thought it’d be this tiring for me and especially for Mrs Bean.
On a good night:
- Kai will wake up somewhere between 10:30pm and 1:30am and request Mommy (Mrs Bean). Refusing this request will result in a back-arching semi-conscious tantrum so I usually just pick her up and bring her to Mrs Bean.
- Kai will toss and turn a bit, ask for Mrs Bean’s arm for support, and drink water a couple times before getting up for the day around 6am.
On not-so-good nights:
- there will be middle-of-the-night conversations about how she wants milk right now, ok fine water
- she will roll and thrash around, elbow Mrs Bean, steal the covers
On bad nights:
- she’ll wake and cry and cry
- she’ll wake, upset, multiple times a night
- oh, there’s more…but I’d have to ask Mrs Bean what else happens.
I fantasize about the day when she’ll be able to wake up and do her own thing – read a book, play with toys. In the meanwhile we’re just trying to cope. I haven’t written about our woes much because in real life people always have suggestions – cry it out, talk to her, this method that method. We’ve tried them all.
We’ve been to the traditional Chinese medicine doctor (tui na and herbs), the chiropractor, the cranio-sacral therapist and the western doctor. He suggested Unisom – this worked but we’d only use that in emergencies…and it means that she wakes up very well rested and ready to go go go at 5am. The next step was prescription drugs which we decided not to do.
We’ve tried more physical activity, more food, bath before bed, no nap in the afternoon. Our latest attempt to work on her sleep has been with homeopathic remedies and it seems to be having an effect. We did a number of rounds with one remedy and are now on our second remedy. It’s supposed to take a week or more to take effect so we’re waiting and watching…please work!!! Please!
Update/clarification
Mrs Bean tells me she NEVER sleeps until 6am. I sleep until 6. Kai sometimes goes back to sleep after a bit of milk in the morning.
Babies, bellies
While putting Kai to bed tonight:
Kai: I have baby in belly
Me: Really?
Kai: Yeah, see? (lifts her shirt)
Me: Oh, I see.
Kai: No. Kai no have baby in belly. Only mommy have baby in belly. And mama.
Me: Well, just mommy. Not mama.
The end of 2011
"I want to try!": Helping Mommy make more cloth wipes
Kai does not seem to have a good relationship with any of her potties these days.
Yarn bombed yoga balls - woohoo!
First menorah! (the wood one)
Enjoying Chinese food with the Jews and heathens on Xmas Eve
Yes. Coming early July!
