As I said, last week, Mazzy's sleep is still a work in progress. However, I want to be clear that even through the stumbles, we have still had tremendous success with Erin's plan.
We are still putting Mazzy to bed earlier which, oddly enough, means she doesn't put up a fight and falls asleep within a few minutes as opposed to singing and talking to herself for hours in bed. Also, because she gets more hours of sleep, Mazzy no longer wakes up crying in the morning.
Those were two of our biggest goals.
Mike and I talked to Erin tonight to go over the next steps of our plan. One reason Mike was on the phone was because I realized we are making a lot of changes and all parties needed to be completely on board or else none of this is going to stick.
We have one big new goal…
Ever since we switched Mazzy to a toddler bed, she has been coming into our room between 5:30-6:30am to wake us up. The new plan is to get her to stay in her room quietly playing by herself until Mike or I come to get her at 6:30am.
THAT, would truly be something.
Erin suggested accomplishing this with My Tot Clock
I'll let you know how it goes!
——————————————
WHO WON THE SLEEP CONSULT???
After reading all of your comments under the giveaway, I really wish I could give sleep consultations to everyone. But unfortunately, there is only one winner today.
The $150 child sleep consultation with Pickles and Ice Cream goes to…
Jill B!!!
Jill B's got an 18 month-old son with no schedule who frequently wakes up throughout the night requiring excessive rocking to go back to sleep. Congratulations, Jill! Please contact me at ilana@mommyshorts.com so Erin can get your entire family some much needed sleep as soon as possible!
Erin will be back in a few weeks to put Harlow on a sleep schedule and we'll be giving a second consultation away then. In the meantime, if you would like to hire Erin to help get your child's sleep patterns under control, you can contact her here.
I previously thought hiring someone like a sleep consultant was a pretty luxurious proposition, but Erin is very reasonable. For $150, you get a phone conversation, a written sleep plan and two weeks of back and forth communication.
That's worth it's weight in gold, as far as I am concerned.
————————————-
WHO WAS CROWNED CAPTION CONTEST QUEEN?
Next up, the non-Disney sanctioned Toy Story caption contest. I couldn't decide. So here are my seven favorite captions and then everyone can vote. Winner gets to help me judge the next one.
Marlana:
Jennifer:
Marcie:
Amy:
Melanie:
Katrina:
I hope everyone has a good weekend! I have to work on Sunday which means Mike is spending the day by himself with the girls. He's really thrilled to test his abilities as a father, let me tell you.
Wish him luck!
— Mommy Shorts
Those toddler light up clocks are genius. They may not work for everyone but ours lit up green “and green means go” so even linked to road safety! Ha! That clock bought me at least 30mins every day. It was worth every penny. Sounds like Erin was too!
LUCK Mike, luck and hope the expressed milk bag doesn’t burst in Ilana’s handbag again.
Ilana look at the gro clock too!! Only thing that got my guy to stay in his room past 4:30am every morning – now in the am if he gets up super early and sees there are still alot of stars on the clock he may try to rest and fall back asleep – if only 1 or 2 stars he plays ….. and never calls me until that sun comes on! The book that comes with it was super helpful in explaining the concept and within a few days he caught on. Good luck 🙂
We taught my kids very early what a 7 looks like. They caught on pretty quick and knew they were not allowed to leave their rooms until 7:00 a.m. It is a great rule!
Congratulations Jill and to all of the finalists in the caption contest. Now I’m going to go check out that tot clock..
Awesome you are getting another consult for Harlow! We will keep Erin in mind for our toddler and baby.
Your posts this week rocked! I love the butt wiping one especially – you should have been paid A LOT of money for that article… it was both humorous, slightly visual, a little bit of ‘eek’, some ‘ah ha’, and informative all in one! Are you sure you aren’t a writer?
Per one of the comments above – gro clock. Love it!! Our little one will yell “sun is up”!
We have the moon/sun version. It sort of works, but the failure is on our part, not his. I may have to talk the hubs into a consult, as our routine has blown up in our faces over the last week and a half, and he travels, and I’m about to get a twitch in my eye.
super cheap tot clock. Pick up cheap plastic clock from walmart/target, take the face off and color in the “good time” green, we colored in from 7am – 9am in green. From 4am – 7am is RED. Red is stop, don’t get out of bed. Started them learning time too. When big hand is in green, you can get up. When it’s not – don’t!!
The Good Nite Light saved us when our munchkin was 18 months old and thought 4:30 a.m. was an acceptable time to wake the whole house. Now at 5, we often have to wake her at 7… but of course, we have an 18-month-old little man now who makes sure we’re up at 4:30 a.m. Funny to think I’m working so hard for them to sleep now and in 10 years I’ll be *begging* them to get out of bed before noon. Sigh.
We got the “OK to Wake!” clock a while back but we never implemented it correctly and now I do feel like we need a new clock to make it mean something. The tot clock is much bigger and the different colors clearer. I have high hopes.
Thank you! I will let Cottonelle know I am upping my fee:)
Just checked out the gro clock- looks great. Similar to My Tot Clock but much simpler.
Once our son knew his numbers we put an LCD clock in his room and told him to not get out if his room till the first number was 8. He could read or play quietly till then. I cannot wait till we can do this with our daughter! She always says she is afraid of the dark/monsters/ghosts etc. so not sure if the other click will work for her.
Each of those captions is funnier than the last! It was a toss-up for me between morning wood and Toy Story conspiracy, but I had to go with the latter b/c even though my son has never seen the movie (and was freaked out by the snippet he saw in a doctor’s waiting room), he knows all the characters and is obsessed with his Buzz Lightyear pajamas (straps on his jet pack every night before bed). We have the bunny toddler alarm clock, and it’s been amazing. Although it dawned on me the other day that my son thinks it’s actually an alarm clock and won’t go back to sleep when the bunny’s up, even if he’s tired.
I just wanted to say that we’ve had a lot of success with the “OK To Wake! Owl” (link on Amazon below). It doesn’t show time but simply turns green when it’s okay to wake up. Clearly as our 3-yr-old starts to tell time, we should get her something that has numbers on it but at this point, it’s very to know what to do from her end and she can’t tamper with it. The best part is that it has a nap timer that doesn’t interfere with the normal overnight timer. Good luck with the continued sleep training. With two kids, it is so essential to establish healthy routines for them and for you.
Kali
http://www.amazon.com/Wake-With-Night-Light-Music-Timer/dp/B0044D0HA2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1363369318&sr=8-1&keywords=owl+wake+up+clock
We got the girl version of this clock: http://www.amazon.com/Stoplight-Sleep-Enhancing-Clock-Sports/dp/B002TKLN46/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1363370960&sr=8-1&keywords=stoplight+toddler+clock
and it was a GREAT move for us. Kept Rebecca in her room until it was an acceptable time to get up (“potty” breaks aside, and I use quotes because she has been known to use that as an excuse to get out of her room…). Also, since she is in the midst of giving up naps, it gives a tangible end to “rest” time, which is vital for both of us (break for me, down-time for her so she doesn’t melt-down at 5PM).
Glad you are making progress!
You don’t get out of bed until the clock turns green. I don’t know what would happen if you did because I have never dared! One week Dada messed up the clock setting and then I got up whenever I wanted. That was awesome.
Woot woot!! I’m a finalist!! I blame it on the pregnancy hormones.
I am offering $15.00 off sleep services to all MommyShort fans! Write MommyShorts15 in the subject title