Bianca's sleep

I am ready for a newborn.  My three year old has made sure of that!  She has always been the one who was ready for sleep at an early time.  Usually around 7 or 7:30, she would start ASKING to go to bed as a toddler.  We started a really long bedtime routine for her sister, unknowingly, so we were relieved a bit when she would just ask you to tuck her in, say a prayer, sing a song, and tell you to leave.  However, things have changed, and I think it has a lot to do with all of the transition our lives have been in over the past 1.5-2 years.  

In that time, we moved from IN to PA, lived with a family for a month, moved to our own home, I started working for a semester, I was home for the summer, we moved to KS, and now we are getting ready for another move.  Wow, I know its been a lot for us, but I don't realize how much exactly until I write it all down!

So, Bianca does not want us to leave her in her room.  Actually, she does not want to go to bed.  Period.  We have been so frustrated by her behavior, and have used every method we know of to get her to sleep, or even just stay in her room so that WE can sleep.  Even if we stayed in there, albeit, falling asleep, she would move and talk and play as long as she could keep her eyelids partway open.  I gave up.  I finally admitted I had no idea of what to do next, so I did what every intelligent mother does - consult your friends.  Since my friends are all over the United States these days, I went to Facebook.  And I got some really good suggestions.  

Thus far, we've had 2 nights of pretty good sleep.  The first night, Scott tried getting her in bed, doing her song and prayer, cuddling a bit, and then letting her know that he would be back in one minute to check on her.  That was good, except that she was up playing with the nightlight.  So he put her back in bed and told her he would be back in 3 minutes.  She was good with that, and she stayed in bed after this, finally going to sleep at the 5 minute interval.

So last night was my night alone, as Scott was doing real estate work to get a house to closing on time.  These are the hardest, because we cannot divide and conquer at the same time.  This means that at some point, I have to leave Bianca to get Bella to bed before 10 pm.  And she knows it.  Bianca knows that when I put her to bed, that Bella is still up, and that is obviously not fair in a 3 year old's mind.  She also knows that if I leave her, I am giving attention to her sister.   CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?!  So, first, Bianca and I had to have a conversation about why Bella gets to keep her light on longer than her.  That led to her asking why Memaw gets to stay up later! ha!  Well, she was happy when I told her that Baby Bumblebee will be younger than her, and she will get to stay up later than him.  (I'm praying that he is a good sleeper!)

Bianca has started asking for us to make up stories for her at bedtime.  Its one of her ploys to keep herself awake and prolong the routine.  Last night, I got my MP3 player set up for her to listen to stories while she went to sleep (with a speaker, not headphones!).  That seemed to work pretty well once it was in a place where she could see the picture on the screen (even though it never changed), and she was asleep quickly with no tears, and no fight.  It was marvelous.  Except when she woke up at 2:30.  Yeah, I got her back in bed, tucked in, was almost back to sleep, when she was up asking of her stories.  I got up, started her story again, and went back to bed.  She slept until 9 am, which is pretty good, considering all things.  I would love for her to sleep through the night, but she doesn't do that when things are changing, and I also think that it has to do with her age.  Her sister, who slept through the night at 5 weeks old, started getting up every night from about age 2 to 4 (the transition of a new sister was also taking place then).

Today, I await the arrival of a book for more help.  I know, I know.  I don't read parenting books.  I just never have.  I don't know why, but every time Scott would suggest that we should read a book, I would kind of turn up my nose at that.  Yeah, I'm stubborn.  These are my kids.  Surely I can figure out what to do with them without consulting some so-called expert!  I've slowly come around.  And I was so frustrated the other night that I had almost ordered the book before Scott came home from work that evening.  I'll let you know if I learn anything new from it.  And when we start sleeping again.  Of course, she'll probably sleep through the night on the first night that Baby Bumblebee comes home!  

ETA:  I posted an update on this here.  Things are going so much better!