Don't they grow up quick nowadays?

[4F]

No she will not!



Last night was not much better, her mum took her up at 7:30, I went up to her ten minutes later as she was making a right racket and decided that she was so wide awake that I would bring her back down again. She went up again at 9:30 and I had to then go up again as she was crying and told her in no uncertain terms that she had to go to sleep, which she then did.

I got her up at 6:10 this morning though!

How many hours of sleep should she be getting at this age? I am beginning to think that eleven at night and one or two at lunch time is too simply much.

I think then you have got to the time to try and cut out the midday sleep. However in the early days of doing this they start to get very tired at about 4 - 5. Under no circumstances let them drop off at this time otherwise your evening will be worse than it is now

 

[domtyler]

I think then you have got to the time to try and cut out the midday sleep. However in the early days of doing this they start to get very tired at about 4 - 5. Under no circumstances let them drop off at this time otherwise your evening will be worse than it is now

I think that sounds like a good move forward 4F, I am going to try that. Thanks.

 

[Chris James]

My daughter has just turned 2. I see startling similarities between you're noticing and what I am...daughter's boundless energy, kisses and cuddles, tantrums, stringing sentences, the lot.
!

My eldest was two a couple of weeks ago and he is much the same.

He has also turned into a tyrant - 'Daddy get it the water!', 'Daddy read it the book!' 'Dyson downstairs, Daddy get it!' etc

 

[ChrisKH]

I think then you have got to the time to try and cut out the midday sleep. However in the early days of doing this they start to get very tired at about 4 - 5. Under no circumstances let them drop off at this time otherwise your evening will be worse than it is now

Indeed. I recall fishing my youngest's head out of his spaghetti where he had fallen asleep on more than one occasion or catching him fall off his chair at the dinner table. Cars were a nightmare as they tended to fall asleep if in them at the witching hours between 4.00 and 6.00. You do spend a period of time making sure they're not asleep so that you can bath them and put them to bed at 7.00. Even now my five year old will succumb if he has too much exercise or is overly tired. I just give him a quick slap across the legs with a nettle if he looks sleepy.

 

[Fnaar]

My eldest was two a couple of weeks ago and he is much the same.

He has also turned into a tyrant - 'Daddy get it the water!', 'Daddy read it the book!' 'Dyson downstairs, Daddy get it!' etc

1) Get your own back by pointing out his grammatical infelicities
2) Get a Henry the Hoover!

 

[Chris James]

How many hours of sleep should she be getting at this age? I am beginning to think that eleven at night and one or two at lunch time is too simply much.

For a comparison, my lad goes to bed at about 7 (sometimes he sings to himself for a bit but he does actually stay in bed, beforehand he used to get up and wander around).

He wakes some time between 6 and 7. If it is 6 then I go in hims room, tell him that it is night tme and he can't get up yet and then i go back to bed. Remarkably, considering he never obeys me during the day, that can often give a stay of execution until 7AM.

He goes to sleep after lunch, at about 1 ish for about 1 - 1.5 hours.

So that sounds about the same as your daughter. He definitely needs his daytime kip as he is like a different boy after he has had a good sleep (and a bear with a sore head if his lunch sleep is disturbed).

During his waking hours he is an absolute dynamo and really knackers himself in.

Perversely his eczema may have helped him get into such a good sleep pattern. He has to have a bath every night in Oilatum and the bath, cream, milk routine seems to resign him to going to sleep.

 

[4F]

He wakes some time between 6 and 7. If it is 6 then I go in hims room, tell him that it is night tme and he can't get up yet and then i go back to bed. Remarkably, considering he never obeys me during the day, that can often give a stay of execution until 7AM.

LOL My youngest (4 nearly 5) wakes anytime between 6 - 7. Attempting to explain to her that it is too early to get up is futile especially in these lighter mornings.

 

[Chris James]

1)
2) Get a Henry the Hoover!

We actually have a Vax (which he calls Hoover). The Dyson is his plastic Dyson toy (with a realistic cylone and a woefully weak suction action). He must be the only two year old who distinguished vacuum cleaners by brand - introducing Henry at this late stage may confuse him!

He also has two lawn mowers in addition to have a love / hate relationship with 'Daddy's mower', and he wanted me to go to the garage to get that the other day but I demurred.

 

[GaryA]

I'm dreading having to balance nurturing sociability with freedom of expression whilst doing as little psychological damage as possible......... at the moment (11 months) all the inbuilt drives to explore, investigate, manually manipulate and pull apart are so strong and wonderous to behold that it (will soon) feel like an assault to start curtailing them for any reason other than safety...
The 'civilising' process........ the necessary evil

 

[ChrisKH]

Bed time routine is very important I think. Bath,drink,bed,story, kisses, parental love promise & lights out in that order at a regular time every night. If all else fails a two minute back rub works wonders.

 

[Chris James]

LOL My youngest (4 nearly 5) wakes anytime between 6 - 7. Attempting to explain to her that it is too early to get up is futile especially in these lighter mornings.

Our blackout curtains work fairly well! But it probably helps that we say it is night time when he goes for his mid day kip too.

Also, boys may be lazier than girls. A good indication of this is that he used to wake up and come into our room (you could hear the shuffling of the growbag from some distance). But when we used to pretend to be asleep then he eventually used to go back to bad. Which worked well. But now he is too idle to come into our room for a possibly wasted journey so he just shouts 'Daddy!' persistently until I come and tell him whether he can get up.

To be fair Douglas has always been a really good sleeper. He can be pretty hard work at times but you always knew that if you could make it until 7 without murdering him then you woudl get some peace.

 

[Sh4rkyBloke]

Bed time routine is very important I think. Bath,drink,bed,story, kisses, parental love promise & lights out in that order at a regular time every night. If all else fails a two minute back rub works wonders.

... as does a shot of vodka.



So I'm told.

 

[ChrisKH]

We actually have a Vax (which he calls Hoover). The Dyson is his plastic Dyson toy (with a realistic cylone and a woefully weak suction action). He must be the only two year old who distinguished vacuum cleaners by brand - introducing Henry at this late stage may confuse him!

He also has two lawn mowers in addition to have a love / hate relationship with 'Daddy's mower', and he wanted me to go to the garage to get that the other day but I demurred.

Slippery slope I tell you. My son's first love was his Dyson toy hoover. He graduated to fans (as in "Look daddy, fans" pointing roofwards in Costco) - fans on cars, then fans on Rolls Royce Engines. Jumped straight into obsession period (obsession costing at least £200 and then the kid moves onto the next obsession costing at least £200.......). Buses first (have you ever been to a bus rally?!) , trains, Thomas et al, then the big one - Concorde. Thank God it isn't flying any more. Or perhaps it would be better if it was as on finding out why Concorde wasn't flying any more he wanted to Google the French crash site.

 

[Chris James]

Slippery slope I tell you.

Thanks for the warning. Douglas already has almost every item of Thomas branded tat going.

And some kid named Harry (I don't even know him) visited two days ago with a radio controlled car. I know because Douglas tells me every few minutes of every hour he is awake about 'Harry's lorry'.

I think the only option is to ban Harry from visiting again (in any case I have taken against him as he rolled Douglas' yellow, red and blue playdough all together into a multicoloured mess).

 

[redcogs]

i'm on my second family. The first produced my elder daughter, who is now 37. She was born in the local hospital, and i wasn't allowed to be at the birth.. that was the convention in those days, and i was probably too naive to challenge it.. i was an industrial worker, and assumed the appropriate role - going to work for long hours, and (shamefully) had little involvement in her early development. She turned out to be a lovely lass, and has become a good Mum herself.

Today, having started again, in totally different circumstances, i'm a (hopefully wiser) 57 year old hands on 'house parent' of an 8 and 9 year old (one of each). i was there at both births, and have been hugely involved in their development throughout. It has often been tough, especially when they were in the 'terrible twos/threes/ fours/.. But it has also been joyous, teaching small skills, and frequently being taught by the kids - often without even realising it.

i've found flexibility combined with consistency of approach to be the main keys, along with the essential recognition that as humans we will often fail in a range of areas, (and experience appropriate guilt as a consequence). Reading through the thread i can identify with all of it, the frustration, exhilaration, delight, troughs and peaks. But surely, in the end, it is the love that is critical, that which binds us together and rescues us when needed, and reinforces us for any future trauma. The hugs and kisses to and from our little ones are so important, probably even more so than we realise..

How wonderful to witness the startling development of other little humans, and how rewarding it is to hear those most magical of words "mum" or "dad".