We fiiiiiinally made it to Butterfly World!
It rained on the way there and I almost gave up, but upon our arrival it cleared.
I completely failed at getting a good picture (they didn’t want to stop exploring to smile!). But it was very beautiful there. It is also big enough that you do not need to get close to many other humans, and most of the exhibits are outdoors. SO: pandemic-friendly.
Viva may have been pooped on by a bird. But all in all, it was a lovely way to spend a morning. The rest of the day was less exciting. I took many of your advice and took a couch nap while she watched a few shows in the afternoon (Pinkalicious x 3, I think). I already miss her nap so much.
Oh well. Bedtime went fine but Josh sat in there again. I know from experience this is probably setting a bad precedent. Annabel required someone in her room to fall asleep every night until she was . . . 6ish. But we lived to tell the tale.
(Also: at some point, A&G will start sharing a room instead of A&C. Maybe that will negate the need for a parent? One can only hope.)
I know from experience that every phase feels infinite while you’re in it. But I also know from experience that . . . it’s not. Will try to enjoy the good parts and just not get too ahead of myself.
MEAL PLAN
(I miss Lagliv‘s so much! Seriously got so many ideas from her.)
M – salmon miso rice bowls from Dinner Illustrated
T – broccoli chèvre soup from Run Fast Eat Slow, baguette slices
W – leftovers from M and/or T (Monday’s salmon will be gone but bowls can be recreated with over easy eggs = delicious)
R – pasta skillet with chicken sausage, cheese & spinach + broccoli
F – leftovers +/- frozen chicken nuggets for kids if Thursday was not a hit with them
S – takeout night as per ushe (probably sushi)
S – cook something from Milk Street Mag probably
Thank you
. . . for your suggestions from yesterday’s post! I unfortunately will not be able to record or share this session. BUT, I could certainly do a live (and/or recorded) replay for all of you if there is interest. Will report back after Tuesday once I see how it goes.
5 Comments
fwiw, I still sit in tiny boy’s room at night. He’s new 9. There’s a time limit. While I’d rather use that time for other things, he rarely calls me back in if I take that time. And generally I read on my iPad or something quiet, so it’s okay….
So I sat in the room with my daughter while she fell asleep for a while and was dreading breaking the habit but it was actually fine. At like 4.5 or so (definitely over nap so very tired at bedtime) we started with having her do 1 minute on her own, then I came and sat until she fell asleep. Next night 2 minutes and so on. By 10 minutes she was falling asleep before I got back and we never looked back. I still go check on her after 10 minutes and occasionally now that she’s older she’s still awake but it’s honestly been fine. The knowing I would come back to check was really key for her. And my daughter has diagnosed anxiety issues so if we can do it anyone can!
I mean if you don’t need to go down this road great but this transition to dropping the nap was hard and LONG for us so I am mostly trying to encourage you that things will be ok if you need a little crutch now. I still remember my daughter going to bed at 10 regularly while I was pregnant until she finally stopped napping no matter what the daycare did (which created other issues…) and it was so hard for all of us…
Butterfly world looks so cool! Glad the weather cooperates once you got there. I’m glad you are entering the season when your weather is ideal. I am envious but we have much nicer summers/falls than you!
I have definitely taken couch naps while letting our son watch a show during the first trimester of this pregnancy. I also did that when he was waking up at the crack of dawn last winter/spring. And I am sure I will do it again. You do what you gotta do to get through the days. Especially when you are solo parenting!
Thanks for sharing your meal plan. Helps to see what others are making. We had meatloaf last night which we actually got our picky son to eat, they are ordering pizza tonight and I’m having cauliflower crust pizza, tomorrow I’m making a big batch of vegetable beef soup and then later in the week I’m making pasta with Ragu sauce. The sauce has carrots, celery and onion minced in the food processor so it’s a way t sneak some vegetables into our little guys’ diet. I know some dieticians say you aren’t supposed to hide vegetables in things but his pediatrician said to go ahead and do it when we can since it’s very difficult to get him to eat vegetables.
Hi Sarah! I have four kids and I’ve tried most things for getting kids to go to sleep/stay in bed, I agree it will pass eventually, but I have two suggestions that have worked for me when I was really frustrated if you get to that point. First do a double-check of safety stuff in G’s room as far as blinds/cords/tippable furniture, windows secure etc. and then unscrew the doorknob and flip it so that it locks from the outside. It is easy to do and undo when the stage passes, but if nothing else it lets you enforce “room time” without a parent right there or holding the doorknob from the outside and may let you check on her in person or by monitor in the morning and then let her play by herself for a bit while you finish your early morning routine. Second, especially with younger kids in the family I’ve found it can be hard for them to wind down when they are smart enough to know that everyone else in the family is still up, so we go through bathroom/tooth brushing/bedtime books etc with my youngest and then leave her in her room in bed with lights out and just the nightlight on listening to the Baby Go to Sleep Heartbeat Lullabies (could probably be any soothing music) with Bluetooth noise cancelling headphones (I have a Boltune Bose knockoff from Amazon that were less than fifty dollars). I play the music from my iPad outside her room so she doesn’t have a screen and it’s only 30 minutes, I just tell her I will come back to kiss her goodnight when it’s done and set a phone timer to come back just as it ends. The music and the noise cancelling help block out the rest of the household noise, and since I always play the same music she knows by which song it is exactly how long is left before I return. Usually she stays in bed and the extra thirty minutes is enough time for her to get tired, but at any rate it gives me a break from being patient and soothing at an hour when I am tired and want to get on with things so I can go to bed too.
We used dinner illustrated (your suggestion) to pick out recipes for this week and now we just don’t want to make them. Haha.
Curious if you’d ever consider moving to a bigger house rather than have 15 yo A share with 9 yo G. I guess G’s presence would function as effective birth control (inside your house anyway) so there is that. 😉