Hard Day

[flea]

When I left this morning, both kids were crying. Casper woke up and had an accident in her bed, and that set the day off wrong. Then she tried to put approximately a pound of cinnamon sugar on her toast and freaked out when mr. flea prevented her. Dillo was just crying because he's a baby and that happens sometimes. Actually he only started crying when I said goodbye, so it was probably me leaving that was the problem.

Yesterday Casper hit a girl named Bianca at the end of the day as they were lining up for dismissal. She was crying when Beth got there, and Beth talked to Mrs. B about it, but we couldn't get much out of Casper, just that Bianca was doing something she wasn't supposed to (touching a broom in the janitor closet?) It's so hard to rely on a just-four year old to give you an accurate account - or any account - of an event.

This is the update from mr. flea:
"Casper had a rough morning this morning. I got her ready and out the
door quickly and over to drop Dill off at DCC. All her old teachers
got to say hello to her and I think that cheered her up some. I
dropped Dillo off and he cried ... I took Casper over to Whole Foods
to get a treat and talk some. She had 1/2 chocolate chip cookie and
some chocolate milk.

Then into school and I spoke with Mrs. B. It turns out that she
has been waking up from nap in a bad mood, you know like she does
some times. Mrs. B. isn't letting her sleep long enough - 30 - 45
minutes. I think this is because she is trying to gradually ween the
kids off nap time so they can get more done in the afternoons.

Yesterday she was in a really bad mood after waking up and it went on
all afternoon. When they were standing in line at the end of the day
Bianca was trying to be nice to her asking what was wrong when Casper
hit her. This really bothers me. I apologized to Bianca.

I spoke to Casper and told her to keep her hands to herself,
especially when she is upset. I told Mrs B. that we would talk to
Casper about waking up from nap time over the weekend and that I
didn't think 30 - 45 min. was enough nap time. I think that we can
solve this problem.

I think she would be better off not going to sleep. What do you think?"

I'd LOVE to rearrange Casper's schedule so she goes to bed earlier and doesn't need a nap. But it's going to be hard. If they lie down at all at school she'll fall asleep, I think. She's pretty tired a lot lately - I have heard from a lot of parents that school makes the kids really tired, even if they are used to all-day daycare. Her ideal schedule would be to go to sleep at 9 or 9:30 - the way she does now - and sleep late in the mornings. But her room is sort of at the crossroads of the house and she tends to get woken up in the AMs by 7 or 7:30. If I'm the only one up, she can sleep as late as 8, but once Dillo's up, and he usually is, she's up. (School drop-off is 8:45).

Anybody got advice on shifting her schedule? She will lie in bed with the light off but awake for a loooong time if we put her down early. Like, an hour. If we just did this for a solid week, do you think it would take? I suppose we'll try.

(As an aside, isn't Bianca a lovely name? I don't think we could get away with it, but if I were Italian or Hispanic, yeah!)

Comments

[lala-lisa.livejournal.com]

I have no parenting advice but I can totally relate to waking up cranky! Poor Casper. It's like she needs a cup of coffee and a little alone time when she wakes up. (Actually, my 9-year old niece, who has trouble with transitions in general and waking up in particular, needs one chocolate donut in the morning. It's totally her coffee!)

[ste-noni.livejournal.com]

There's a Bianca in Ellie's class. Very cute name.

I hear you on the waking thing. Ellie needs time if she's woken up and I guess they let her sleep long enough at school because it's never been a problem.

Is there any way Casper can be allowed to sit quietly for a bit before she's asked to do anything? I know, that wasn't the question asked, but that's why I always needed as a child.

As for sleep shifting, the only way it ever works for us is to make her tired first - basically wake her up when we need her to be up and then just hope she's tired enough to sleep early. I've been thinking about this because right now Ellie sleeps from 8:30 to about 6:30, if allowed, but I really need her up by 6 to get out of the house on time.

[haphazardmethod.livejournal.com]

I don't really have much advice, because Sci's problem was always staying in bed all night, not going to bed in the first place. He starts full days next week and I am nervous about how tired and grumpy he'll be. As it is, Sys is quite something by dinner on days she doesn't nap, and if he's on a short fuse, too, Mr. M. and I may take to having dinner on the roof by ourselves.

When I have had to shift their bedtimes though, I just did it a little at a time -- 15 or 20 minute increments, staying at each "time" for a few days -- until it was where it needed to be.