neurotic parent natter

[flea]

1. Casper really likes salty things. She eats slices of feta cheese plain and says "more cheese." (By the way, did you know that 'feta' in Greek means 'slice'? Hee.) She loves canned black olives. Tonight she sucked on the salt shaker. When she spilled some salt, she ate it using her wet fingertip as a tool. I am, of course, covinced that this desire for salty things is a) pathological and b) my fault.

2. The nights still suck. Up 2-3 times every night. We've also gotten into a very bad bedtime dynamic - she cries when we put her down, then quiets, but stays awake playing in the dark for a considerable time - up to half an hour. Is this normal? I'm worried it's a sign of Something Bad. We're talking about re-night weaning/re-Ferberizing this weekend when we can nap to give ourselves a break. The sleep deprivation is really getting to me again. But Casper seems so fragile right now - she woke up from her nap at 4 and cried for me for half an hour, until I got home. Conflicting needs. I thought listening to a baby cry was hard, but listening to a toddler sob, "mommy, mommy, up" is, if anything, worse.

In things that I am not angstifying about, tonight in the space of 15 minutes Casper colored on the wall with 3 different colored crayons and spilled sparkly pink paint on one of our nice maple dining room chairs. Hooray for soap-and-water-washable children's art supplies! Oh, and she licked the paintbrush - hooray for non-toxic ditto!

Comments

[dxmachina.livejournal.com]

I am, of course, covinced that this desire for salty things is a) pathological and b) my fault.

Nah, she's just getting ready for Margarita Night down at daycare.

I doubt there's anything pathological about it. Salt tastes good. I'd imagine most of what she eats at this point is probably pretty bland.

I once wrote my brother's name on a wall in crayon, apparently thinking my mom would blame him for it. He was two at the time. I never really thought things through in those days.

[serasempre.livejournal.com]

Aidan stays up playing at night too. The doctor even told us to put soft toys in his bed so he would play with them when he woke up in the night and before he went to sleep, so he could learn to self-comfort/put himself back to sleep without us. It seems to be working, mostly. I'm terribly sorry about the "mommy, mommy, up" though. That's just heartbreaking.

Mine eat salt too, every chance they get. I'm pretty sure it's normal. At least, I hope so, since I never asked anyone about it.

I hope the nights and naps get better. I'm sure you're more traumatized than she is, though I'm also sure that's no help.

[forodwaith.livejournal.com]

Maybe she doesn't need a nap anymore? Frightening, I know, but possible.

[hecubot.livejournal.com]

Too bad JZ doesn't read LJ, or she'd give you the lecture about kids and salt. She works for a pediatric cardiologist and regularly gets healthy eating extremist parents bringing their children in with blood pressure issues because they've cut all the salt out of their diet. At which point the doctor prescribes a bag of potato chips a day.

Anyway, I think babies crave what they need. That doesn't mean I leave an open sugar bowl around Emmett though.

I feel for you with the sleep issues. It's so draining and the toddler sobbing is horrible. I think my most heartbreaking was when Emmett was two-ish and having tantrums all the time. Once when he got a timeout in his room with the door closed, he was screaming and sobbing "I want to be a good boy! I want to be a good boy!"

I felt like the most evil Dickensian villain, when in fact, Emmett had totally deserved that timeout.

Playing in bed for half an hour isn't unusual. You might try changing bedtime rituals. It took a while, but I got locked into a bedtime process that started at tubtime, that took an hour and half but took out all the stress and the crying.

And it was good time too. Half an hour of tub and playing with him there. Half hour of getting dressed and reading with the lights dim and soft music. Half hour of walking the hall, singing lullabies, rocking and putting to bed. So that hour and a half didn't feel like a chore so much as a long quiet, intimate glide toward sleep. Sometimes litte poots respond very well to that kind of ritual.

Mind you, that didn't make him sleep through the night, but bedtime wasn't a trauma.

[cashmerepett.livejournal.com]

Having been through this night time thing several times, my sympathies and best wishes are with you.

The thing that kills me is that even if you have something established, something always seems to pop up and change it on you.

After a month of trying we finally are down to only one occasional wake up per night.*

But he's also in the process of dumping the morning nap.

*as I type this, I can hear the wheels whirring and clicking in the Universe that will result in three wake ups tonight. And yet, I still feel the need to press my luck by typing it.

[aimeejmc.livejournal.com]

I remember doing the playing in the dark thing until I was about 9. Once I could read, that's what I was usually doing. Until then, I was singing with my dolls and stuffed animals.