Taylor 'spits-up'

About 4:30am on Friday morning Taylor comes down out of her room and tells me that she "Spit-up". Oh no I am thinking! Not on the carpet. We had recently talked about where we should throw up... in bed, in the bathroom, in the kitchen... but NOT on the carpet. I can't wash the carpet very well. Fortunately, she did it on her bed. Besides the extra laundry not too bad. She wanted to climb in our bed but fortunately I convinced her I'd make he a comfy bed in my bathroom and promised her if she needed to throw up she only needed to call for me and I'd come. True to my word, I went every time she called or threw up. We got out the well known "barf-bowl" and she slept with that. (Note, we don't use this bowl for anything other than barfing!)

Taylor has only just begun to take interest in TV. You know she wasn't feeling well when I put on the tv and she actually stayed and watched it. She never does that! Usually, it is only for about 10-15 minutes and the tv is off. Long enough to take a shower. Her biggest disappointment on Friday was not doing our 'project'. She tells me that is her favorite thing to do on 'Mommy day'. I promised we'd do something later.

A funny for later that day... obviously, she was feeling better and was trying to jump on the couch which is not allowed. I told her she needed to stop it but she wasn't listening. I knew how upset she was over her stomach hurting earlier so I threw in "stopping jumping on the couch or your tummy is going to hurt again!" Without missing a beat she replies, "It already hurts!". She thought that would allow her to continue jumping! WRONG! I stopped that pretty quickly! (It wasn't really jumping but more running up and down the couch.. but still!)

PS .. she has tried multiple times to get the special "sick drink" and "popsicles" as she NEEDS them. The sick drink was either a little coke or 7-up which she has had very little of. We keep a little in the basement just for these times! Sorry kiddo... no more sick drink. Popsicles... well, okay (you do know it is freezing outside, right?)

Taylor's bedtime routine

I think we finally have it figured out. It has only taken us 3 years to get this right. Taylor has never wanted to go to bed and has refused to do so. Now, I have even offered to let her stay up in her room if she would just stay there. That has never been good enough. I think she figures she is going to miss out on something important if she goes to bed. Taylor it seems, just needs a reason why she needs to do something. For instance, she has only been wearing pull-ups at bedtime for almost a year now. Most of the time she would wake up dry but well, she still had her moments. So, one day several weeks ago she decided she wasn't going to wear pull-ups anymore because they made her 'bum' hurt. And they did. Not because they were too small but hey, do you want to sleep in wet undies? So, she decided no more and you know... she has not had an accident yet. It makes me think those wet pull-ups were getting wet in the morning and not during the night! Anyway, back to the bedtime routine ... Several weeks ago we introduced her to her 'treasure' box. It has worked like a charm. She would find things in it that were inexpensive or things she might have gotten anyways but now she gets to 'earn' them before enjoying them. Each night she goes to bed 'nicely' (meaning she stays in the bedroom and eventually goes to sleep) she gets a 'special' star. Once she gets two of these special stars down comes the treasure box. Bedtime has been so nice! We start getting ready about 7:30pm. She sometimes fights getting pajamas on... We go into her bedroom of choice (got to have some choice in all this since she IS going to bed) and she chooses my bed. Into bed we go. We read a book. Turn out the lights. Set the little time for 2 minutes of back rubbing and start settling down. I then leave, making sure to leave the closet light and bathroom light on with the doors cracked. I kiss her goodnight and promise to come back in 2 minutes. If she is in bed still, I'll rub/scratch her back again (if I make it back.. shhh.. don't tell her!). If she chooses to come out, she'll tell you that means she has to go to her own bed. After I leave, I know she gets out of bed and takes the book we just read over near the closet to 'read' it again (She's not very quiet when she reads). She then puts herself back to bed. I love it! Of course, we do have those nights that are difficult but it is NOT every night like it used to be. Maybe once a week she'll put up a stink! She cries the next morning that she didn't get that special star! We are now on to needing 3 special stars to get out a prize! Hopefully, we'll wear this novelty off and just go to bed! Crossing our fingers!

Jordan tells me "MORE"

Jordan is a trooper! Despite all the ailments and ear pain she has she just keeps on going. Tonight, as I was putting a little extra something in her tummy before bed she started to do the baby sign for 'MORE'. Now, I have been doing this to her for quite some time but she just looks at me like, huh? or laughs. Well, today she did it! At first I thought "do you know what that means"? And she would do it at the appropriate time. She wanted more of those sweet potatoes! What fun it is to watch her learn!

A treasure box

Ever since Taylor was a newborn she has wanted to be held to go to bed. She was miserable as an infant and never slept more than 20 minutes at a time during the day unless she was being held. We have tried repeatedly over the last three years to break this cycle to no avail! At one point we thought we were doing pretty good and got as far as sitting next to the door in her bedroom while she laid on her bed. Unfortunately, this could sometimes take over an hour for her to go to bed. When the tornado came and we were left in a house with no windows or carpet (I certainly didn't want to sit on the plywood and wait for her to drift off) we ended up sitting on her bed. That's where the back rubbing came into play. (Michael never sat on the floor. He preferred to sleep in bed with her). I have tried and tried to get her to stay in her room at bedtime. That didn't work. I told her she could keep her light on and read for as long as she wanted. That didn't work. I was nearing my wits end when I decided perhaps her litle stubborness just needed a little reward. So, the other night we made a 'treasure box' out of an empty diaper box. We decked it out with stickers and put stars over it. We even went to the extreme of using glitter. What a mess (Thank you Jamie)! Since that night, the little darling has been pretty good about going to bed. I have stocked the treasure box with a few 'rewards' when special stars are earned. So far so good. Right now, she has to earn 2 special stars in order to get a reward out of the box. We keep track of these stars on a little erasable board on the fridge. We hype it up as best as we can hoping she catches on and gets excited about how well she is doing. Eventually, she'll have to get a lot more stars to get a 'reward' out of it and then hopefully she'll forget about it. So far, two stars is about as long as she can wait or she'll tell me "I don't care" and go about jumping out of bed.

The other night I was so proud of her. She didn't go to sleep right away but she did stay in the room. I'd periodically go in and check on her and she'd want her back rubbed or scratched again. (I forgot to mention, that before I leave her in the room we take a timer in and set it for how long I will rub her back. She then knows that when it goes off that I am going to leave.) It took about 45 minutes before she finally gave up but she didn't come out of the room!

It sure has been nice to not have any tears at bedtime. Yeah, it cost me some items in a treasure box but mostly they are things she needed anyway. (Have you ever had your kid excited about getting a new toothbrush or batteries for some toy?) Shh.. don't tell her otherwise!

To our uninvited house guest

Dear Germs,

You have overstayed your welcome. We are tired of the coughing, sneezing, sore throat, fever, no one getting a good night sleep bug. Your generosity and willingness to share has gone over the top! You are being kicked out. You may not return. Please find yourself a new home! Preferably far far away!

The Mathis family