Stay Strong and Stay Calm

I think I finally have it figured out.  Julianne has not been going to bed very nicely for about the past week.  Well, she'll go to bed and lay there playing and talking to her animals for over an hour then gradually the talking turns into moaning or squealing, eventually turning into an all out scream, pretty much a temper tantrum.  Speaking of temper tantrums, I will get to that shortly.  Keep reading!

So normally when the crying begins we would get up and get her, give her a snack and put her back to bed and it worked like a charm.  Lately though, that has not been working. 

Due to some other recent events with her, I have come to realize she is just having a fit because she is not getting her own way.  So one night, we got her up but afterwards she wouldn't go back to bed.  I got fed up as I am sure most parents do and finally just left her in bed and let her cry it out.  Approximately 20 minutes later she was asleep.  Good, problem solved.  Well then the other night it did not work out so easily.  She screamed, after being in her bed for about an hour.  Finally catching on to what she was trying to do, this time I refused to take her out of bed.  I went and talked to her, which didn't work.  I tried sitting in the middle of the floor with my back to her (saw that on SuperNanny, but I think its actuallly meant for the child that won't stay in their REAL bed) and some light music which actually worked for awhile but of course as soon as I moved it started all again.  So finally I gave her a little snack, which she played with rather than eating it.  So I gave her a drink of water and voila! she layed down and went right to sleep. 

However, tonight I was not interested in dealing with the temperment problems or whatever you want to call it.  Soooo...she did not get a nap today.  She was tired earlier in the day and I did try and give her a nap but she wasn't interested in sleeping so I kept her up and no matter how tired I could tell she was getting, I didn't put her to bed until after supper.  And she went to sleep with NO problems whatsoever.  Yes she went down a little earlier than normal but if it means I get that much needed couple of hours of peace and quiet in the evening then so be it.  That's what I am going to do.

Now for the temper tantrums.  I think more fitting is Julianne's episodes.  She throws a fit if she does not get her own way.  Like if we don't let her climb on the kitchen table and play with Mommy's laptop.  Or after she has gone through so much trouble to remove that particular piece of garbage from the trash can, how dare we take it away from her.  Sometimes there is advanced warning...big pouty lip comes out followed by the tears, or we just get straight screaming and laying on the floor kicking and rolling and hitting if you dare to get too close to her.  What a treat! 

I had my first experience of an "episode" in public.  We were at the mall trying to get some Christmas shopping done and this time she wanted to walk by herself.  I should mention we got one of those kiddy harnesses for her so she could walk and we could hold on to her, but once she was in a big wide open space with so much room to run but held back by the harness, that was it, she wouldn't go anywhere except down on the floor.  And yet I remained calm.  I simply picked her up, carried to another store that actually had shopping carts and then it was all good.  That was until I wouldn't let her touch everything that we walked past. 

I did make it home, a little exhausted but unscathed for the most part.  I am hoping that this was just a matter of being hungry and tired but only time will tell.  Until then I am on a mission to do everything possible to break her of this early.  Namely just not giving in.  I have to stand my ground, after all, I am a lot taller than she is.  For now at least! 

Cheers!