It's been ever such a long time.... so sorry. Summer totally flew by.
Here are some random thoughts on beds, deep breathing, holidays and anything else that comes up.
So we bought a big girl (full size, single bed which she'll have till she's 18!) today. It should be delivered any moment. On holiday F slept in 5 different beds, mattresses on the floor, a pack and play when camping (oh yes - not much sleep) and a full size bed. She did incredibly well and adapted brilliantly despite frequent changes. So we're going for it and changing up her room. We've gone straight for the big bed, with drawers in the bottom so she can tidy her toys away, which are spreading across the bedroom big time, it's her playroom too.
Travelling on the plane was not as hellish as I thought, she slept on the way there and she coped on the way back. But I did a terrible, but effective, thing on the way back. So we took her car seat on the plane and she sat it in, a very good idea because she loves it and sleeps well in it. However it meant she could very efficiently kick the seat in front. And she did, sometimes deliberately because I told her not to and at other times she just did it without thinking. So I resorted to tying her legs to the car seat with string. Loosely of course. She could move them a bit and they came loose if you pulled her out of the seat so it wasn't dangerous. And it totally worked!
Gravol was useful, 'nuff said.
2 year olds have jetlag, this I now know to be true.
We bought a tall seat for F to sit on for meals now and she is loving it. There's a little bit of, 'don't get down from the table we haven't finished' but it's not bad. And the high chair may be banished to the garage. Hurrah.
Tonight F got upset at bedtime, I decided to follow through on a 'if you don't sit still and stop messing about I will not read this book' threat. Yes I know, bad time of day to do this. Anyway, she escalated. I had to go and calm her down and I decided to introduce slow breathing as an idea for de-escalating. So I put my hand on her tummy and told her to breath and push my hand out whilst I demonstrated and she didn't really get it but tried and focussed on it, which helped her to stop crying. Then she turned on her tummy and started doing longer breaths. I was amazed. And so I was able to leave her to sleep and listen to her bedtime CD and breath evenly. I do believe she is in slumberland now!
Well that's all folks. Hope everyone is well.
