So Very Tired...

A day without a nap is like a day without a sense of normalcy. From start to finish today was a spiral of ups and downs, crazy outbursts and severe mood swings! At about 9:30AM Hubby sent Bulldozer for his morning nap. Not even twenty minutes later while Hubby was outside hosing down Dexter's cage (he's our resident rodent, the "invited" one) and I of course had to be on the phone dealing with customer service personnel, he came out of his room bawling. I frantically called Hubby back upstairs and finished off my conversation about fifteen minutes later to a still awake child. He did not want to go for his nap. He pulled the potty card and managed to waste a whole bunch of time by sitting on his potty so he wouldn't have to go for his nap. Finally at 11AM I told Hubby that it was pointless to send him to bed since we were leaving in an hour to go to the Montreal Jazz Festival. So no nap it was. Then as we were leaving the house I told Bulldozer that if he wanted to enjoy a day out then he'd have to do a "sleepies" in the stroller. "Yes!" he replied. Ya right. In all fairness he did eventually fall asleep (pretty much when we got to the Festival) but he only stayed asleep for half an hour! Then he was up, peppy and ready to go. What's the problem with that you ask? Well his good natured attitude wore off and come the end of the day, he was filled with the venom of a child who had not slept! On the bus ride home he did not amuse us with screeches, spitting, scrunchy noses and just plain ole' not listening to his parents techniques. To make matters worse we didn't get him to bed until 9PM! No that's a day. A hot shower, a Hubby massage and then all I want to do is sleep.

A No Post Day

Yesterday was a no post day. I guess between the stress of having to find a new place to live in two months (yes we are moving), the emotional roller coaster ride of having both of my grandparents diagnosed with diseases/having to be placed in nursing homes and now finally, the straw that broke the camel's back, the ultimate meltdown that Bulldozer had last night, I've had enough. The last thing I wanted to do was write.

We've been having a lot of trouble with Bulldozer and his bedtime. I know there are probably parents who are rolling their eyes because most toddlers fight going to sleep. It's above and beyond that. His screams have turned to shrieks and it's bad enough that we keep getting complaints from our neighbour. He screams and shakes and cries and sputters and flails (ask Hubby since he got a pair of feet to his groin yesterday)... We keep bringing him back to bed and he keeps running out. We've tried bedtime stories, sitting in his room, letting him choose a toy to bring to bed and last but not least, letting him do absolutely everything associated with the bedtime routine like getting his ice and water for his sippy cup, washing his hands and brushing his teeth. The last idea has to be the absolute worst. He throws the whole ice cube tray of ice onto the floor when he's frustrated and then shakes and screams when the ice flies everywhere. Brushing his teeth often results in a meltdown too because he doesn't want to let you brush his teeth, he just wants to do it all himself. Unfortunately that doesn't work because that's why he's only two and has a cavity already!

Well all this to say that today we're going to try to switch his nap time to the morning hours since he's been falling asleep mid morning. We will see if that means that he will do more in the afternoon and then be tired enough to fall asleep at night. That or he'll have meltdowns because he's TOO tired...