Big boy bed update

Just an update on big boy bed...

He did start to get out and play with toys (and he still does) - so we usually check on him 5-10 mins after lights out to see if he's in bed or not. If he's not we have the talk - did mummy tell you to stay in your bed? Yes. Did you get out of bed? Yes. You disobeyed mummy so you need a smack. You need to do what mummy says. I usually give him the smack then out him back in bed, tell him to stay in bed and that we love him give him a kiss and shut the door. 

Some nights we don't have to do this, some nights we do. On the whole it doesn't happen a lot anymore.

The big boy bed transition really was not a drama at all. 

Toilet training and big boy undies!

Well....it's Sunday and as of Thursday we've been toilet training! What an adventure :) so far it has been.....easy? Not what I was expecting to say!! But true. I followed the principles of "potty training 1-2-3" by Gary Ezzo (same guy that wrote babywise) and it's been fantastic. It focuses on the child being dry, rather than on going to the toilet. Which makes perfect sense as we adults don't aim to go to the toilet, but we do aim to have dry pants!! 

So far we have had one accident (yesterday during lunch) - but the rest of the time has been smooth sailing!! 

Although OB hadn't had cordial or chocolates before, we figured this was the time (because the book said so!). And boy did it work a treat! Getting a smarty for being "dry" was an insanely massive incentive for OB (imagine tasting chocolate for the first time - great incentive!!). We got a new drink bottle (which wasn't necessary) and he drank loads of liquids and had lots of ewes to do. Every 15 minutes on day 1 I asked him "are you dry?" And he checked, if he was dry he got a smartie and then sat on the potty to "stay dry". If he did a wee he got another smartie. If he was wet (which hasn't happened) then we would just change his undies and continue on - no harsh words). Day #2 I asked him the question about every half hour to every hour. It was great. Mainly because I wasn't dishing out smarties every 15 mins (which did make for a pretty hypo child). 

I did put a nappy on him for his 3hr day sleep - but yesterday when he woke up his nappy was dry! Yay! 

Today we are going to church, so....he woke up at 7.45 (he still goes to bed at 7pm!) and did a wee on the potty (he asked for a grape as a treat so I gave him 2!). The we. Had breaky and I asked him if he wa dry as we finished breaky. He said yes, got his treat and then sat on the potty and did a big wee. So exciting! Now I will give him lots to drink, so hopefully he does his ewes before church and I'll stop giving him drinks about an hour before church. So the plan is to take him to the potty (after asking the question) at 9am, at 9.30am and then I'll take him when we get to church at about 9.45am. Hopefully he can last through church then!! We will see! I might go with him to crèche. And I'll probably take the potty with us!

So all in all...it's been such a pleasant experience so far! Looking forward to what the next few weeks bring :)

An update on OB's current routine at 2yrs 1 month old.

Wakes up anytime from 7am - 8am (we do get the occasional sleep in till 8.30!)

Quite a routine morning: breakfast, chores (he vacuums and can dust and sweep), calendar time (which is our learning time/focus time - we follow a program from www.abcjesuslovesme.com which covers manners, shapes, colours, letters, songs and the bible).

Then he has a 1hr room time by himself (which he absolutely loves - grew out of playpen time, which I would highly recommend doing from day dot). 

Then he will have upto an hour outside by himself playing  with the dog and his tractors and toys.

At 11am We have book time - he sits at the kitchen table or on the lounge and reads a few books I've selected (this time is tailored to him sitting when mummy says and reading what mummy says to aid in him sitting still in church on a Sunday).

11.30 is lunch time and then in bed by 12 for his day nap. I'm thinking of extending this a bit and putting him down at 12.30 but haven't done it yet.

Then he's up at 3. We have some outside time and just general free time. At 5pm it's quiet time - books, puzzles, whatever. Then a bath at about 5.30. If there's time between dinner and bath he can watch approx 20 mins of DVDs (tractor tom or playschool or spot). 

Dinner is at 6pm.

A about 6.30 it's into his bedroom. We read one book together. Then it's lights out - but we've started doing 10 mins of quiet bible reading by himself or lights out (he always chooses bible). Then lights out and one of us lays with him for 10 mins just chatting about his day. These suggestions were from a brilliant book called "Creative family times" by Hadidian and Wilson (another great toddler resources is "what every child should know along the way" by Gail Martin).

Then by 7pm it's door shut and he's down for the night.

A well as being in his big bed, he now has no safety rail, which is sad because he's growing up way too fast!!

I think that's all the updates for now. Xx

Big boy bed!

Our little man will be 2 in December and today he slept his day nap and has gone to bed for the night in his "big boy bed". We have been thinking about this transition for a while and I was really nervous that it would be delay difficult.

But, this morning I made up his big bed and thought, why not? So at lunch I told him he could sleep in his "big boy bed" and made a bit of excitement about it. After lunch I took him in as per normal, and just sat him in his big bed, read him a story, told him he had to stay in bed, and left the room. 

I was nervous:

- that he would get out of bed and play - which is what I would do if I was him, but I'm honestly not sure if he knows he can get out! He hasn't even tried.

- that he would know that the door was open (because I usually put him in the cot and shut the door - makes it darker in there. But for big bed I left it open - mainly so I could see what he was doing. 

I peeped through the crack in the door and watched him. It was so hilarious. He roamed up and down the bed (we have one of those plastic bed rails that goes 3/4 the length) and tried to touch everything in reach - the walls, a PowerPoint, the change table and a window. Because I was peeping through the crack I could sternly say "no" everytime he touched something he shouldn't. He stopped touching them after a warning (we've been upping the anti with obedience lately and it's paying off - but that's for another post!). 

I was so excited that he fell asleep after about 15 mins at lunch and the same tonight. I'm worried he will wake in the night and not know where he is, but I'm sure I'll only half sleep tonight so I'm bound to hear him.

Anyway, if this is it and he's big bed transitioned I'll be amazed! It was so easy! I had so many people tell me it was easy and if this is it: it is! Will know by tomorrow though, the novelty might wear off. Not taking the cot down just yet because I'm nervous (although maybe tomorrow I'll get hubby to take it down because we need to be all in - and need OB to know that it's big bed time all the time.

Oh one other thing we did - I put the safety gate in his room so that if he wakes earlier than us in the morning he can't roam the house and get into danger, he's confined to his room (where it's reasonably safe!). 

So that's it for now! Xx

Holidays :)

We have just had a week away over Easter to my brothers place in Canberra and then last night at the bro/sis in laws place. OB can settle in other beds :) finally. Yay!!

In Canberra he slept in the porta cot - in a separate room to us - and had his exact routine as at home. And straight to sleep :) one night hubby & I went to a wedding and OB was put to bed by my wonderful sis in law and he went straight down. So proud of him :) and then last night he was in his cousins cot and had about 5 mins of crying and then was asleep.

I now feel confident to go on holidays and be able to sleep :) yay!! Being on more holidays!!!!

Oh and he travelled so well. It took us 9 hours to get to Canberra. OB slept his nap in the car. Then had awake time. Then dinner and into pyjamas (and to sleep with the seat backwards). It was awesome. Once he went to bed at 7 we could drive till we arrived.

On the way home he was great too. He got a little bit fidgety about 3 hrs from home (but we forgot he didn't have much lunch) - so we have him some food and he was great the rest of the way! Such a fun toddler age!!

Dropping one day sleep

Yesterday OB went from two day sleeps to one. His routine now looks like this:

7.30am wake up

11.30am lunch

Nap

3.30pm Arvo tea (if he's a bit fussy. If not i won't give it to him). It's often a "slinky apple". He loves them!!!

6.00pm dinner, bath

7.00pm bed

Daylight savings ends next week so we will see how that goes....

Weaning

I spent a whole Thursday deciding how I would gradually wean my 14.5month old off breastfeeds...I even made a plan - I wrote it on paper. I was set - to start in a few weeks, when I was emotionally ready. That night I went to feed OB as usual, nope, he didn't want it. He just wanted to smile at me and touch my face. After trying for 5 minutes I asked my husband to get a sippy cup of milk, which OB also declined. So I red him his usual story and put him down. Straight to sleep. I sat on the verandah hoping he would need me to go in and feed him. He didn't. I was devastated. But at least I still had the morning feed, right? Wrong! He slept from 7pm until 6.30am as he usually does and when I went to give him a feed he just wanted to be up, he walked to his high chair and wanted to sit in it. He knew exactly what he did (and didn't) want. He hasn't had a feed since. His nighttime routine now looks like this:

6pm dinner. Bath. Sippy cup of milk in kitchen. Say goodnight to leppy (stuffed toy). Story. Cuddle. Lights out. Prayer. Place him in bed. Put his music on and walk out the door. We rarely hear a peep out of him.

I assume that means he was ready to wean.

Our day routine for 13 - 15 months looks like this:

6.30 - 7 am wake up (if he's not up by 7 I wake him)
7am breakfast as a family

10am - nap #1

12 - lunch

3pm - nap #2

6pm dinner, bath etc

7pm bed

This age is just amazing :) he can obey instruction such as "OB can you bring your shoes to mummy" and "please stand at your chair for breakfast". It's amazing to see him develop these skills. He will sit for "book time" in his high chair for upto 45 minutes after lunch (which is amazing considering he couldn't do 5 minutes when we first started at 10 ish months.

Dinner out

I haven't been a big fan of going out at night with Oscar.

Let me clarify - I was a HUGE fan of going out with Oscar when he was little and would sleep anywhere - probably upto the 4 month mark, but after that, when we had firmly established a routine, going out was for the day (and getting a good nights sleep was a priority). I believe that whenever possible kids should go to sleep at their consistent time (which should be between6-7pm depending on age).

Since the 4 ish month mark (when he started "sleeping through" the night) it became important to have a consistent bedtime routine and a consistent bed!!

It has paid off. Last night we went to my wonderful in laws place for dinner and we took OB. We did his usual nighttime routine, out him in their portacot and shut the door. Not a peep!! When it was home time at about 9pm, we picked him up, put him in the car, drove home, placed him in bed and left the room. He went straight back to sleep. It is SO worth missing out on a few night time social events (or getting someone trustworthy to babysit) for those 6 or so months to get baby into a great bedtime routine. I am now confident that we could successfully do his bedtime routine anywhere - and still get a full night sleep! Lots of people like to comment that this is just "luck" and a "good baby" but it has been a lot of consistent work and not giving up on sleep training to get to that point. "Luck" has nothing to do with it. Persistent and consistent training!i

Camping

I was so nervous about camping...but it was unnecessary. We did OB's normal bedtime routine, put him down at 6.30 in the tent, in the portacot and bam, he went to sleep. We tiptoed around him getting us into the tent - which was pretty noisy considering the zips and getting stuff from bags, but he stayed sleeping right through till 6.30am. I was so relieved.

We had such a great time camping. OB loved every minute of it. The second night he woke at 2am for an hour and then woke for the day at 5, but still proved that we could successfully go away overnight!it was great to trial it somewhere so close to home, so that we could sneak home if we had to.

We are currently moving to a 12 month old routine which pretty much lines OB's meals up with our meals. Cutting back to 2 breastfeeds a day (morning and night). His nighttime routine won't change - 5.30 dinner, bath, story and then bed.

Meat, Travel Sleep, Playpen & Teeth

Teeth

This week OB got his FIRST tooth! Yay.   I am surprised that he didn't make any of the usual 'teething fuss'. - Although he has been making lots of 'teething fuss' over the past few months. The night it came up he went to sleep at 6.30pm as per usual, and woke at about 4am absoloutely screaming. I thought it might be teething pain so I gave him some panadol and put him back to bed. When he woke at his usual 6.30pm there it was - a tiny little bud of a tooth. I put my finger on it and gee it was sharp!! I had no idea how sharp babies teeth were!!

Travel Sleep Training!

My beautiful OB ringing his bell...

Next weekend we are going camping with some good friends. OB has never lasted a whole night in his port-a-cot (except when he was younger than 4 months and didn't know any different). We are VERY nervous about how he will sleep when we go away for the two nights. So we have decided to sleep train, but in a port-a-cot. A few friends had mentioned that I should do this - sleeping him in the port-a-cot in his room and in different rooms of the house to get him used to sleeping anywhere. Today I set up the port-a-cot. OB had the time of his life playing in it whilst I was setting it up!!! BUT when I put him in it (and zipped up the side) - boy did he scream (and is still screaming). He has had one 10 minute stint in there - then I went in and lay him back down, gave him a few pats and told him it was sleep time. I don't think he listened. As soon as I was out with the door shut he started up again. But a bit softer than at the start. It might be a looooong afternoon!! Now hes having little spurts of crying with about 20 seconds of quiet, which for him means hes winding down. Hopefully by next weekend we will have had at least one full nights sleep in the port-a-cot. I should have started this earlier (and then we could have tried sleeping outside in it). I don't know how we will go in a TENT putting him down at his usual time of 6.30pm (with no black out blinds of course) in the LIGHT! Might have to put him down later....when the sun is actually down. Ps hes being very quiet in his room...if I had to guess i'd say hes down for the arvo (he got put down at 2:25 and its now 2:42). The plan is to give him one sleep a day in the port-a-cot until next Friday (when we leave). I'm hoping to have at least one night in it too, but will wait and see how the day sleeps go.

Playpen

In Simone Boswell's amazing book "Calm baby, confident mum" she talks about the benefits of playpens and puts playpen time into her routines. 

I LOVE the playpen. For a few reasons. 

#1 - Its safe. Everything in the playpen is OB safe (a lot of things in the rest of the house are not).

#2 - It gives me time to do the things I need to do (cleaning, cooking, washing, quiet time, book reading, bubble bath, etc).

#3 - It teaches him to have time by himself - to amuse himself and to be independent from mummy.

#4 - Gives him ONE place to make a mess (especially helpful if people are coming to visit and i've just tidied up).

When we moved house (August-ish) it took me a little while to set up the playpen (and find an appropriate place for it) and to actually put OB in it. We have lots of doors in our house so we can shut off different rooms which is great (and reduces the need for playpen time). This last week I have realised that OB has had barely any playpen time since moving and as such i'm re-introducing it into our everyday routine (for all the reasons mentioned above). 

I am starting with 15 minutes a day. Its not too long if he cries the whole time (hasn't happened yet - he usually cries for 1 or 2 mins then enjoys himself) but not too short that he doesn't spend any time in there. He's catching on again quickly!  I just put him in there and he whined (not even a cry) for about 20 seconds and then turned around and started playing! 

OB crawled into my lap and had a nap before lunch (first time he's ever crawled up and fallen asleep).

About 25-30kg fit in our freezer

Meat

This week we got 40kg of meat from a friend (who also runs a bull stud). We have SOOOO much meat! Not only do we know EXACTLY where it comes from, but its such great quality (barely any fat) - even the mince is delicious (and not disgusting like store bought mince). Its also really economical at around $10 per kilo (even for the eye fillet, T-bone, sirloin, etc). Yesterday I made rissoles with the first batch of mince. They were SO yummy!!!! And so easy!!! I got the recipe here. 

Home made rissoles

Curtains

Blackout Curtains

As we have changed to daylight savings and its now really light when OB goes to sleep we needed blackout curtains. I priced a few at different stores, and they are really expensive. So I decided to make some!

It was really really easy! I just measured the window, cut the fabric and hemmed it. The eyelet bits at the top came on a tape which I had to sew on to the top of the curtain, then cut the holes and push in the silver bit. The pushing in of the silver circles was quite hard and a few were broken in the process (I had to get my muscly hubby to do most of them).

I was really amazed at how easy they were to make.

What I would do differently next time:

- Have one more eyelet hole so that the right end of the curtain is  dipping back towards the wall.
- Make it a little bit wider.
- Get hubby to put all the push circles in so that I didn't break any.
- Be a bit more patient in sewing so that the stitching was straighter.
- Choose prettier fabric.
-Make two curtains instead of one (I was being lazy so only made one that went across the whole window).
- Make them sooner - they were SO easy!

Sleep

We have finally hit all night sleeps :) 7pm - 7am! YAY!!! He's done about a week now so I hope its here to stay :)

Sleep (Baby) books...I have read a number of books so I thought i'd do a review of them here:


"Calm Baby, Confident Mum" Simone Boswell

I honestly think this is the BEST baby book I have ever read!! Everything it in was helpful from breastfeeding information, to sleep, to routine, to highchair manners to discipline. It is just the BEST book. If you don't have it, and have (or are having) a baby, I recommend it. The author Simone Boswell is a mother of 6 and speaks from her (and friends) experience! I only wish she wrote a toddler book! I'd buy it IMMEDIATELY!!

You can read more about Simone and her book here.


"Save our Sleep" Tizzie Hall

I have heard a lot of negative things about this book, however, I found it to be great. We followed the routine for OB's age and after 3 nights of doing her "laydown approach" OB was sleeping 7pm till 7am. I think this is because he actually learnt how to put himself to sleep (and there had to be a bit of crying - although it wasn't really crying - it was protesting!!).  This book was fantastic. I would have liked a little more help for what to do when he wakes and won't resettle and when he won't have a nap at all - but on the whole, following her approach worked. I was impressed because I read this book with a LOT of scepticism.

"Baby Love" Robin Baker

SO many people recommended this book to me as a MUST have. It was great to have during pregnancy to read (as I had NO idea about babies), but when I had a real life baby, I didn't find it overly helpful. It was helpful for the beginning when I didn't know ANYTHING (so good for the basics) but I haven't used it since OB was about 2 months old.



"the no-cry sleep solution" Elizabeth Pantley

I'm not really sure how a baby can learn to sleep without any 'cry'. I was a bit skeptical of this book from the beginning. Had heard lots about it. And borrowed it to have a read. It has some good information, but no real 'plan' to get baby to sleep. It allows you to make your own plan, however the reason I was reading the book was because I had no plan. It did give some good cues so it could be helpful to read, however my parenting style required a much more direct approach. It seemed a bit wishy washy and I doubt that a baby will actually learn to sleep through the ideas in this book.

"The Complete Sleep Guide for Contented Babies and Toddlers" Gina Ford

I also heard rave reviews about this book. It had some interesting case studies, but to be honest I did not fid it helpful at all. There was the basic information that most sleep books have but no real plans or what to do when baby wakes during his nap or learns to stand up and won't lie back down. This books talks about babies over 6 months having 30minute naps during the day, but I have found this contradictory to what other books say about babies needing to move through sleep cycles during the day (so they can do so during the night) so their naps need to be between 1hr and 1.5hrs long. I have found that when OB naps for more than 1hr for both his daytime naps, his nights are perfect! Where as if he only naps for 30 minutes, he (and mummy and daddy) are in the horrors.


Do you have any GREAT baby books??? Especially on sleep??

I am off to make some lemon cake and lemonade (I have 19 lemons....any ideas for lemon-y things I can make????)

Thoughts for a sunny spring day

A great day with Grandma.

Today we spent most of the day with Grandma (apart from a few hours at church). Its amazing seeing OB in a different environment. He can do more things than last time we were there!! He can sit up properly in the high chair, and ride the rocker!! So exciting!! We are so lucky to live so close to such great grandparents :)

To think about....

 'This is the thought that should be uppermost on your mind in all you do for your children. In every step you take about them, in every plan, and scheme, and arrangement that concerns them, do not leave out that mighty question, "How will this affect their souls?" ...the chief end of their lives is the salvation of their souls.' - J.C Ryle

This has got me thinking...that there is so much about OB's upbringing (that is yet to come) that I have not thought through! This scares me. I'm trying to think through discipline because that is what worries me the most. On one hand I want to be loving to OB, but on the other hand I want him to be well behaved. Above both of those I want him to become a christian. I don't want my actions to hinder that. 

Luckily I still have a bit of time to think through these issues and consult wise friends & family....

Proverbs 13:24 - He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him. 

OB has been sick, which put a stop to our sleep training, however we started back up again yesterday. A good friend lent me "Save our sleep" by Tizzie Hall which is a HOTLY contested book. Last night we started the 10 month-up down-sleep training which consisted of putting OB back down every time he climbed up the rails of the cot. This was quite tedious (and I was only listening through the monitor). Last night it took about 45 minutes before sleep was achieved. Tonight only 20 minutes. Lets see what tomorrow brings. Also, OB is having one night feed (a dream feed at about 10.30pm) and thats it until morning (7am is his usual wake up time). So night-weaning has been successful (if you consider him to be night weaned with a dream feed).! Yay (hes nearly 10 months). 

Night weaning

The time has come for night weaning...for no reason other than I'm keen to sleep for more than 5 hours in a row. OB was night weaned (by himself) at about 3.5 months and was sleeping 12 hours straight. But then we moved and he got a cold and it's been easier to night feed him since then - basically I've been lazy...

So on Sunday night when we got back from Katoomba I put him to bed as usual at 6.30 and was determined not to feed him (other than his "dream feed" before midnight) until 6am. He had his dream feed at 10.30pm and then woke at about 2.30am for his next usual feed. It took about an hour to resettle. At 3.30am he went back to sleep and slept until 6.30am (when he woke I fed him). I did have a backup plan incase he didn't just go back to sleep - I was going to feed him every second time he woke rather than every time and wean him slowly. 

Monday night he went to bed as usual, had his dream feed and woke at 3am for his usual feed. I gave him a sip of water and cuddled him and put him back in bed. It took about half an hour of cuddles and re settling to get him back to sleep. And he slept till 6.30am.

Last night (Tuesday) he went to bed at 6.30, slept all through taking him out to bible study, had his dream feed at about 10.30pm. Woke at 3.30am and I gave him a cuddle, changed his nappy (which i forgot to mention i did the previous nights) and put him back in bed. He went straight back to sleep (yippie) and slept till 5.30am. 

Not sure how keen I am on the 5.30am wake up - I'm quite tired today. Fingers crossed he will sleep right through tonight (theoretically that's what he should do, but what baby follows the book?!).

Looking forward to an uninterrupted nights sleep!