OVERWHELMED ANYONE?

It is the time of year when all hell breaks loose at my house. As if school, work and a toddler were not enough it is the time of holidays, birthdays, and stress. Lots and lots of stress. I always start stress about now at the prospect of the whole season looming in the distance. It starts in October with Rosh Hashana which although we only send some cards to friends and family, I try to acknowledge the holiday and do something traditional to let Hannah understand a little about each holiday in the Jewish calendar. Then we have Yom Kippur which is supposed to be for atoning for sin and fasting in penance. Not that we generally fast, but again I want to do something. And so it goes. Through October.

I am also making Hannah's Halloween costume. Little Bo Peep. The store bought outfits are dreadful and so I am making it. I bought patterns (yes, more than one), material, and extras and now have to budget time to get this done. Meanwhile her birthday is coming up and I usually throw a bash with lots of crafts for the kids, a big homemade cake all decorated and cute, goodie bags and games. It is a four hour free for all of fun. This year we decided to party out. We checked out Little Gym and it was expensive and only for 1-1/2 hours. So I searched. Libby Lui, a little too old for her. Tea Party a little too dull and cucumber sandwiches for five year olds? Yeah ! Right ! Enchanted Dreams is tea party Princess style dress up with games. Sounds great at 30.00 per kid no food. No chance! Build a bear at the mall. Arggh! Too crowded. Riverwinds swimming party in the fall? Cool idea, but a little too much worry with little ones around water. Then I happened upon the Discovery Museum in Cherry Hill. Inexpensive 2-1/2 hours, lots to do for the kids and educational. Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner.

So, now all I have to do is finish my school stuff before Thanksgiving and the family folk start to arrive for the food fest. I also need to finish Hannah's curtains and dust ruffle so the room is done. And I should clean at some point. It would be nice for Joel's family after all. Then the shopping, baking, cooking, and entertaining begin. So much to do and so little time. I just keep breathing deeply and trying to focus.

First things first. Costume. I'll keep you posted.

Bedtime Battles

My darling daughter has really begun to drag out bedtime. She fights getting ready for bed. She interrupts story time a dozen times. She gets in and out bed to go potty, brush teeth, drink water, turn on night light, and ask 20 questions that aren't really questions. She comes into our room around 3 a.m. and wants to get in with us because of bad dreams, noises, and sometimes nothing but denying her turns into a crying and screaming chaos that neither of us desire at 3 a.m.

And so I am trying the bedtime sticker board that has worked so well for my cousin Michael's little girl Hazel. Hazel is 3 and apparently suffered the same nonsense at bedtime. Sticker board worked like a charm for her.

Well, first night bedtime went great. Hannah wanted to get right to bed. Kept telling me to hurry the clock was almost at bedtime. She stayed in bed, went to sleep. Viola. She did get up in the middle of the night and come in with us, but she was in bed by 8:30 p.m. I gave her half a sticker. The agreement is 5 stickers in a row and she gets a special fun thing like Little Gym or Chuckie Cheese. Second night, I got home late due to Weight Watchers meeting, and she was up it was already 8:45 p.m. I told her that she better get upstair and get in bed, or she was going to lose the sticker. She grabbed Joel's hand and pulled him upstairs for a quick story. She went to bed no problem and stayed in bed. YAY!! She got a sticker.

Then last night. She went up no problem all excited ready for a sticker and then meltdown. She wanted to stay in our bed. She wasn't tired. She didn't want to go to bed. She wanted another story. Joel came down and said that at 9:45 she was finally asleep, but in our bed. What? Did you tell her no sticker. "Yes" he said beaten "she wouldn't do it" So this morning I told her no sticker this morning cause you wouldn't go to bed for daddy. She kicked the door where the board is. She then refused to change her shirt. Refused to go downstair. Refused to eat breakfast. I tried the method recommended by the parenting specialist. The "specialist" recommends giving them the power to make some decisions. So I told her she needed to finish getting dressed now, because I had to leave for work and if she didn't get ready now, there would not be time to watch Jakers (a PBS show) and eat her breakfast before school. So, if she wanted breakfast, she needed to get dressed now, but if she wanted to go to school without breakfast that was her decision. Ten minutes later she is standing at the top of stairs calling Daddy to show him that she has not changed her shirt and basically did the nananana thing.

Needless to say things got ugly and I changed her shirt and she cried and she came downstairs in tears to eat breakfast. Now, I want to know what makes a parenting specialist so special???

I'm thinking we may need reform school for this one. She's a real toughie.