One Urban Mom

Ughh!! What do you do with your toddler the morning after a sleepless night?

Last night I was up with my 8 month old from 2 – 4:30am . . . then, my 2 year-old got up 6:30am. Marcus tried to convince him not to wake me and to let me rest, but as soon as he left, OLG1 started his usual morning routine. I’m hungry, I want to play, when will you get up, I don’t want to play in my room, I don’t wan to get my own snack. I don’t want to rest with you . . . he climbed on me and rather than cuddling as I described in a previous post, tossed and turned and yelled in my ear . . . It was horrible. The only reason why I have the clarity of thought to consider writing about it is because help is on the way. My sister is coming to help, to play with OLG1 so I can sleep and recover my patient, calm approach to parenting. I searched online for thoughts about how to manage a morning like this and didn’t find anything. So, here’s my question, what would you do if this happened to you? What is your go to strategy for managing a toddler after a night with very little sleep? By the way, I nurse the little one, so caffeine is not the best solution . . . if that weren’t the case, I would certainly have made myself a cup of coffee.

Here are some of the ideas I tried without much success:

1. Encourage the toddler to watch television while mom gets enough sleep to be able to think clearly. By this I mean 45 minutes to an hour more . . . I’m not an advocate of television for small children .

2. Mom rests in his room while he plays close by.

3. Mom rests in bed while the baby nurses and the toddler eats cereal in her bed.

The solution I ultimately settled on was calling for help . . . first a friend . . . she recommended I call someone who might be able to play with my toddler long enough for me to get in a good nap.

~S

April 11, 2011 at 11:10 am 2 comments

Saturday

April 6, 2011 at 4:44 pm Leave a comment

I Went in a Spaceship!

The boys went with my sisters to the Discovery Science Center. I needed to work and rest. I sent them with food, medicine, two aunties and a camera. They both had fun and I got to get a glimpse of it even though I wasn’t there. OLG2 loved it, he talked, kicked his kegs, swung his arms, and smiled at everyone. OLG1 had a great time, but most of the exhibits scared him. One auntie guessed it may have been because he didn’t know when pushing a button or pulling a lever would result in a loud noise or a big puff of steam. I love that they had so much fun with family while I prepared for class next week.

~S

March 14, 2011 at 12:00 pm Leave a comment

Garcia, R. 2010. “Mother and Child”

I watched a movie while working from home alone yesterday. It was moving. There were moments when I was shocked by the stories being told. Several moments were echoes of thoughts that are so real and so private, that I couldn’t move my eyes away. In one scene, a mother screams that she hates her daughter . . . I can really and truly say that I have never felt that, but I have felt the overwhelming difficulty that inspired the adult tantrum. Her mother looks at her and says, you’re tired, grow up, do you think you’re the first woman ever to be a mother? I censored the dialogue a little bit . . . Some critics have written that this movie is too much like a short soap opera . . . I say to them, if you saw yourself reflected in the characters on the screen, you might feel differently . . . if you’ve known an adopted child who wanted to know his mother . . . if you’ve known a mother who wanted a child with her entire body . . . if you’ve been a father who didn’t want a child or a father who would take care of your child, if you knew he was yours, or someone who lives their life in reaction to trauma rather than as a celebration of the beautiful relationships we have with other human beings . . . I think you’ll enjoy this movie, while it is saturated with pain, the director manages to fill this story with hope.

~S

March 13, 2011 at 12:00 pm Leave a comment