Daily life with small children is made up of small rituals. How do you wake them up (or how do they wake you up)? What do you do when you put them to sleep? What special games or songs are special to you? How do they greet Daddy when he comes home from work? Some rituals are pretty boring and they are just the routines that get you though the day. Some are sweet.
Ava and I have a new ritual. It's developed since she moved to her toddler bed. One afternoon when she woke up from her nap she was cranky and I just pulled her into my lap on the floor and sang to her and rocked her until she felt better. The next day when I got upstairs after hearing her wake up she was waiting for me sitting on the floor in front of the door to her room. I could tell she was waiting for me to sit down and scoop her into my lap for a repeat of songs and rocking time.
Over the next several days more steps were added. Now it is pretty consistent. She waits for me in front of the door. We sing and rock on the floor. Then she slips out of my arms and brings over a book which we lie in front of on our tummies with arms propped on elbows to read together. Then we tickle and giggle and roll around and play until I finally suggest going downstairs.
It's a sweet way to spend some time together before our afternoon therapy session and I treasure it. It's a ritual shared just between mother and daughter that we don't have to share with anyone.
A Speech Pathologist Mother and Her Daughter Diagnosed with Childhood Apraxia of Speech
Monday, February 21, 2011
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Nighttime Wakenings
Nighttime Wakening One:
We were shocked awake by Ava's cries of "Mama! Mama!" We never have to go in to her in the middle of the night, but I could hear the panic in her voice. She had a foot stuck in between the rails. As soon as I got it out she instantly rolled over and fell back asleep. The scary part is that she stayed asleep when the smoke alarm went off seconds later because I had left her humidifier on full blast and coming into her room stirred the humidity up towards the smoke alarm. Logically, our high-tech smoke alarm interprets that as a fire. After turning her fan on full blast and waving a towel at the smoke alarm for what felt like five minutes it finally shut off and we were able to go back to sleep.
Nighttime Wakening Two:
Michael fell asleep quickly the other night because he had skipped his nap. I could hear a lot more restlessness and coughing than usual through the monitor and was a little worried, but not too much. I'm lucky. The vast majority of the time The children sleep beautifully every night from bedtime through to morning. But a few minutes later I knew exactly what I was hearing - the sound of a child throwing up and panicking about it. The mess was epic and involved changing bedding, wiping down the crib, carpet cleaning, washing several stuffed animals, a 10:30 pm bath, and a new set of pajamas. Michael and I were snuggled in a blanket waiting for his Daddy to finish cleaning when round two hit. An 11:00 pm bath ensued, followed by another round of laundry.
I decided we needed at least one puke free hour before trying to put him to bed so we relocated downstairs to pass the hour in front of the tv. Round three hit 40 minutes later, but this time the mess was contained to a single blanket. 40 minutes after that we managed a bucket. At that point I sent my husband back to bed and was hoping to get Michael back into his bed at 1:40 in the morning. So of course round five hit at 1:30 am. My next goal was 2:30. We only made it until 2:00am pushing my goal back to 3am. He finally fell asleep on the floor of the living room around 3am. I left him there not wanting to risk disturbing the fragile peace and slept on the sofa myself.
We were shocked awake by Ava's cries of "Mama! Mama!" We never have to go in to her in the middle of the night, but I could hear the panic in her voice. She had a foot stuck in between the rails. As soon as I got it out she instantly rolled over and fell back asleep. The scary part is that she stayed asleep when the smoke alarm went off seconds later because I had left her humidifier on full blast and coming into her room stirred the humidity up towards the smoke alarm. Logically, our high-tech smoke alarm interprets that as a fire. After turning her fan on full blast and waving a towel at the smoke alarm for what felt like five minutes it finally shut off and we were able to go back to sleep.
Nighttime Wakening Two:
Michael fell asleep quickly the other night because he had skipped his nap. I could hear a lot more restlessness and coughing than usual through the monitor and was a little worried, but not too much. I'm lucky. The vast majority of the time The children sleep beautifully every night from bedtime through to morning. But a few minutes later I knew exactly what I was hearing - the sound of a child throwing up and panicking about it. The mess was epic and involved changing bedding, wiping down the crib, carpet cleaning, washing several stuffed animals, a 10:30 pm bath, and a new set of pajamas. Michael and I were snuggled in a blanket waiting for his Daddy to finish cleaning when round two hit. An 11:00 pm bath ensued, followed by another round of laundry.
I decided we needed at least one puke free hour before trying to put him to bed so we relocated downstairs to pass the hour in front of the tv. Round three hit 40 minutes later, but this time the mess was contained to a single blanket. 40 minutes after that we managed a bucket. At that point I sent my husband back to bed and was hoping to get Michael back into his bed at 1:40 in the morning. So of course round five hit at 1:30 am. My next goal was 2:30. We only made it until 2:00am pushing my goal back to 3am. He finally fell asleep on the floor of the living room around 3am. I left him there not wanting to risk disturbing the fragile peace and slept on the sofa myself.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Toddler Personal Ad - Response
Well, I left to pick the children up from school fully intending to ask Ava's teacher about possible playmates. Then I chickened out. It's so easy to just think, "I'll do it next time." That's just my way of rationalizing procrastinating some more. I was feeling guilty about it because every time I put it off I let another week slip by without a good play option for Ava.
That same night we went for a walk before dinner. Our weather has been unseasonably warm for a change and we were taking advantage. So in some weird and blessed twist of fate, as we were on our walk I spotted a mother and a young daughter also out for a walk. They live about four houses away (moved in recently) and her little girl is only three months older than Ava. She gave me her email address and I contacted her that night. We'll have our first playdate Sunday.
I hope we all get along because it can't get much better than a little girl only three months older who lives less than a two minute walk away.
That same night we went for a walk before dinner. Our weather has been unseasonably warm for a change and we were taking advantage. So in some weird and blessed twist of fate, as we were on our walk I spotted a mother and a young daughter also out for a walk. They live about four houses away (moved in recently) and her little girl is only three months older than Ava. She gave me her email address and I contacted her that night. We'll have our first playdate Sunday.
I hope we all get along because it can't get much better than a little girl only three months older who lives less than a two minute walk away.
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