Jonty, the dinosaur who could not go to sleep #appreview

Jonty the dinosaur who could not go to sleep

 

Jonty reminds us of a Little Miss we have in our house. She struggled to go to sleep since the day she was born. We have sorted out most of the niggles, but even this week she fell asleep in the car on her way home. And she could not go to sleep after that...

Jonty is the sweetest character in this iPad app that is great for toddlers as well as children learning to read. It is also wonderful for learning to read a second language, such as Little Miss that is 7 year old and is only starting to read English now in Grade 2.



There is four modes in the app: Read to me, Read it myself, Autoplay and Add to story.

The story is interactive and objects can be moved, and some objects can even be added to the story. The child are able to record her own story and add it in. There is background music with a lullaby quality to it which really adds to the bedtime story routine!

There is an option to print colouring sheets for children.

Jonty the dinosaur who could not go to sleep

Interaction with objects on Jonty the dinosour app

Add your own story and objects on Jonty the dinosour

Beautiful illustrations on Jonty the dinosour who could not go to sleep

There is a Lite app available that's for free: Jonty the dinosour who could not go to sleep

There is also the full version that's avalaible for $2.99: In-App purchase available!


My only gripe with this app is that it is not available on the iPhone, and that is is only available on iOS.


Disclaimer: I got a free code for the full version!

A discussion about fear

This morning out of the blue I heard the small voice from the back of the car...( I thought she was still sleeping while we were driving to school.)

"I do not have to be afraid (she calls it "skrikkerig" in Afrikaans), because God looks after me!"

I don't know where this statement is coming from, but I confirmed that she has no need to be afraid.
She also said that when she was a baby, she was not as fearful than she is now.

I hope I could convey to her that it is not necessary to be afraid.
(What can I say more than she is safe with us and that there is no reason for her to be afraid?)

I have seen that she is apprehensive and reticent when meeting new people. Last night a friend of my daughter came to visit, and Mieka demanded to be picked up and held when the girl arrived.
She gets almost frantic until she gets picked up! (As if she is in some kind of danger...)

The other definite fearful trigger is of course not wanting to be left alone, and not wanting to sleep alone. She wakes up screaming when she finds herself alone in her bed. And she calls out to us!

I remember being very afraid when I was small, and the eldest also had trouble with the dark.

We try our utmost to go to her, and sleep with her, and we do not leave her on her own. I know how scary it can be lying on your own (I can still recall my own fear of the dark), feeling as if strapped down by the arms (ghosts) in the dark.

I hope we can help her to overcome it sooner rather than later.

It seems all of us go though this phase?

Sleep sorted! Really?

 

Three years and 7 months. You would think that sleep is not that much of an issue anymore. That sleep should be sorted by now...

Surprise, surprise!


Sleep is a total different ball-game for a three year old...

Maybe she has got our late night owl genes, or she's just a normal three year old?

The most recent phase is one where she goes to sleep in our arms. Demanding literally to sleep in the nooks of our arms... And also when waking up. Which can be a couple of times a night!

Getting her to bed at an acceptable time and getting her up a the break of a day. Not so easy...

Which means that she spends most of her sleeping time in our bed. Also no surprise, and I am not complaining!

There is nothing as sweet as waking up into that sweet face in the mornings...

 

We had a break from reality for a week. With sleep routines going for a dive!

But she went down even before her normal bed-time tonight! (Definitely something to do with that skipped afternoon nap...)

Fingers crossed for a good night's sleep before we check back into the rat race!

Happy sleeping!

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One Groundhog day, please! #parentingfail do-over

I want a do-over day for yesterday.
A do-over parenting day!

This is what today looks like (photo on top by Dad), and all the blame needs to be placed in front of the parents...
(Sleeping in the car while waiting for the school gates to open this morning...)


It was such a lovely day outside yesterday, with a breakfast with friends and playing outside...

Ennis Nursery coffee shop

The warning sign only put a giggle on our faces...

And the wish on the food was an extra bonus!

"May you have the best that life can give you!"

What could have gone wrong?

We had to take the student back to Varsity.
That is a three hour trip, and we were exhausted last night.

We fell on the coach with you, snacked on junk, and did not stuck you in your normal routine of bath, story-time and bed!
We watched the Sunday night movie!

(Bad, bad parents!)

I so regretted it this morning when we tried to dress you while still sleeping
(That is not so unusual, but the tantrums that were accompanying it were an extra reminder!)

And all I could say: "I am so sorry, my little one!"

Today is one of those days I wish I could have stayed at home and do a goundhog day (such as in the movie!)
In the groundhog day I would have done everything the same (and enjoyed it even more!), but I would have stuck to your bed-time routines...
Even though you love to stay awake until the darkest hours...
Even though you love staying up with us...
Even though you are not always in a mood for a bath...
Even though you enjoy snacking on junk with us...
Even though you enjoy watching movies with us...

It is not that difficult? Is it? Is it?

Parenting fail!

Please tell me we are not the only ones slipping up every now and again?

                                                                             ______________

But!
Today I will be better! Even though I won't get yesterday again...
I will make my own groundhog day of better parenting!
I promise!

Nobody as surprised as the surprised mother

I wanted to write the blog post last night, but we had a sleep fail night, and the off switch did not work, except for both parents! (Nothing new!)
We staggered out of our room after 11 last night, with washing that still needed to be hanged, and the lights to be switched off in the rest of the house... (No wonder I don't get time to read!)

The Toddler was 35 months yesterday. 3 is a month away.
And.... Ta-da-ta-dum!-ta-dum! is nappy free.
She announced last Thursday evening that she did not want to have a nappy on at bed-time, and that was it!

The status update on Friday
about the first nappy-free night at MomAgain@40 FB page

She is wearing panties 24-7, and she tells us when she wants to go...

Nobody is as surprised as me!
Something just clicked!

I was beginning to worry about the deadline of next year and the new school...She is supposed to be potty trained by then.

It just shows you! All in their own time...

"I can do it!"

It dawned on us last night! We don't need to buy those expensive pull-ups or Pampers or Huggies... anymore!
*Happy dance!*

Related posts:
Up close with the toilet
Potty training - report back
Wordless Wednesday #69 - More uses for the potty

Morning's first photos at day care #27 - week in pictures

Monday - not a good start for the week - Sleep fail

Tuesday - had to drop her off sleeping!

Wednesday - it was a good night!

Thursday - it was a good night! She bumped her head!
(The Winnie the Pooh plaster is her own doing. There is no blood involved!)

Friday! She only woke up now, but the sweets money in her hand helped a lot!

Happy Friday!

33 months on World Peace Day

The Toddler was 33 months on World Peace Day yesterday. #worldpeaceday

 It is a day in recognition of a world favouring peace, and for once not a day AGAINST something! We should definitely have more of these!

Days to call Peace to the fore in the World, for our children!


I saw this cute dress with the peace sign & "Peace" written on it at A-C-Kermans yesterday, and could not resist.

To get her to stand still for a photo is not always possible...

The Teen even tried taking a picture through a window...

Peace!

33 months is all busy and talkative and major Tantrums.
The tantrums are even more forced with louder theatrics.
And to get the off button for sleep stays a major issue!

But, she cannot get cuter than this! We are sure of it! ;-)

Sleep fail

#sleepfail What a boring topic. The toddler and not sleeping.You would have thought that by two and a half years we would have cracked the code for getting a child to sleep?


Not so!

We had two sleep drives this week already, and last night Hubby proclaimed he was not going to drive around again!

What happened? (Murphy had fun, for sure!)

After the usual bed-time routine stuff of bath, Dad reading, and me getting into bed with her, Little Missy was bright-eyed and ready-for-action!

We even tried all the lights-off-and both sleeping with her in our bed…
We dozed off, off course.

In the end I just gave up and took a bath with her supervising on the side!

At half past ten we got into bed with her and told her that she could stay awake, but we are sleeping now.
The reverse psychology (or maybe finally tiredness?) finally kicked in, and she was gone.

But it was too late for a toddler of her age, and this morning she did not want to wake up…
I left her sleeping on a mattress at day care!

Total sleep fail! (Hung head in shame)



Photo: Earlier this week at day care: The Toddler loves her Dora the Explorer shoes.

Sunday evening, and we are doing a sleep drive

The Toddler had such a great weekend with lots of sun and outdoors and play with friends and helping us to water the garden...
When she announced she is going to stay awake just now, there was only one option that we know addresses a lot of frustration... For all of us!
5 minutes on a sleep drive in the car, and we are back with a little one that has passed out completely!

Hope you had a great weekend as well!


Photo: Helping to water the garden in her swimwear on Saturday.

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Sheet cycling

It is colder here at night with winter especially making it known at night. It is vests and layers and socks...

It is not as easy convincing the Toddler of the same fact!
She is forever getting rid of her shoes and socks, and clothes. The birthday suit bandit!

We have to convince her it is winter here!

But the worst is at night. We can’t seem to keep the sheets and blankets over her. She starts cycling with her legs until she lies all in the open (cold). She wakes up and she is little freezing ice blocks. When I tell her she has freezing icicles, she sniggers and puts that little ice blocks of hands on me!

It means that she wakes up more at night, and we have to cover up. When she lands in bed between us, poor Daddy ends up with no bedding, most of the times...  (It seems I have a better grip! Wink smile!) We have to contend with cycling legs every now and again and getting the sheets back... And again...

When I go and lie with her, it is the same story! But I find that it is a bit easier keeping us covered!  I do cherish the co-sleeping, but definitely not the open-sleeping!

 When does this sheet cycling behaviour stops? She is older, but at nearly two and a half, it seems it is some unconscious thing still going on at night. Cycling the legs until there are no sheets or blankets left!

Winter is only beginning, and the nights are really cold! Brrr...

Morning's first photo at day care #20: Monday morning sleepy

Not a good way to start on a Monday... The result of not going to sleep at 8 last night. Although Mom and Dad tried!
I was thinking of the "Go the fuck to sleep" book that was a topic on last week's blogs via Reluctant Mom... It really helped!

(Book: Go the f to sleep - Adam Mansbach)

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The Toddler is down at 8

 

We had some sleeping issues during the holidays last week.  As soon as the regular routine gets shifted or moved along by a couple of minutes hours, everything goes out of the window!

No new revelation here! We all know it! It is our own doing (as parents!) when we let it slip... We were driving around again on Monday night while she was full of beans, singing songs...  While we were feeling like zombie parents driving ourselves into a coma...

Luckily when she went back to day care this week she was extremely tired, and it is now the second night that she went to bed at eight AND fell asleep immediately... Back-to-reality does have its merits for tired parents!

The photos are evidence of some of the late night art being done by the Toddler last week. She starts by cutting up pictures from magazines and making collages. Even the dices got a place on the collage. I think it is pretty nifty because she does it all on her own!
(The same as the collage on her sketch pad as well.)

Happy sleeps!

Morning's first photo at day care #15 - You woke me!

The Toddler really wanted to keep on sleeping this morning! (So did we!)

She woke up at 22:30 last night and was not impressed with Mom not coming to her side immediately. Dad had to take over because Mom was busy helping the Teen to get that online visum form completed. In the end we gave up and saved the "stupid" (I want to use more stronger words here) form for tonight. We really have to spill our guts for these forms! I am being tramatized by the details we have to give! (I hate forms! I hate forms!)

I don't think I want to ever go overseas now! The forms is getting to me!

The Toddler was all bright-eyed by then, and in the end was giving me a full run-down of my bathing experience. She was standing right next to my bath, and telling me how to wash what! She only got settled again when all the lights where down, and we were passed out on the bed at 23:45!

No mystery the lady was not impressed with waking up today.
But she did give me a a little blurry smile when asked for it this morning!
No, it was you that was blurry with that shot, Mom!
YAWN...

Chainsaw in the bedroom

I am a very good sleeper. I love sleeping, and have never struggled going to sleep. There is nothing that is more satisfying than SLEEP!

That is, until I got pregnant again, and since then I was more awake than I wanted. First with the uncomfortable pregnant belly, and then the baby and the nightly sleep deprivations...

I became aware of something else as well. Something which did not bother me at all before... There is a Chainsaw in the bedroom. It is real and it is very very LOUD! It makes sleeping very difficult! To drift away in that wonderful magical world of SLEEP... Very difficult!

I am lucky that as soon as I break into the threshold of sleep, I am away for the night.

To get there is the problem.

Ways I try to deal with the Chainsaw:

• Nudge or poke or stroke of the offending noise maker.

• Trying to straighten the cushion for another sleep position.

• Putting the cushion over my own ears.

• I have on occasion gone to sleep in the Toddler’s room. (It seems the Chainsaw does not bother her at all when she lies next to it!)

• When trying to verbalize the problem, I only get back that I have my own Chainsaw melodies... “sigh”

• On occasion I have tried to record it, and strangely it has worked very well. The offender wakes up, or the sounds are not that loud anymore...

The Toddler is growing up, and our broken sleep is getting less and less. With that of course the impact of the Chainsaw will grow less and less. There is real hope here! (Smile)

Until then, what other remedies do you suggest for dealing with snoring?

Sleep adventures

I have just spent an hour with the toddler on the bed, and now Dad is trying some more. Another hour has passed already, and we are still hearing the giggle from the bedroom...

Sleep stays an “adventure” every night! Sometime she announces that she is going to bed, and we have to move to walk with her up the steps. Even when it is before her bed time. We do try to keep to the bed times! Sometimes she asks for “booby” and falls asleep on the breast. And it’s easy...

But sometimes we get nights, like tonight, where nothing helps! Especially when we have decided to drink that second glass of wine... Murphy does keep his ears wide open, you know!

Nowadays she also wakes up with a scream when she sees we are not sleeping next to her!

Sorry, have to go make a bottle... Dad has just sent me a sms from the bedroom.

Fifty minutes later, but Little Miss and Dad are finally down for the night. I had to lie down as well. Yawn!
Who says that sleeping with the toddler is not a fun adventure? (Sarcastic smile)

Now all that’s left is get myself off to bed...

Good night!

(Photo: Mieka earlier today, fast asleep on the coach!)

Related posts:
Cuddle at bedtime or cry-it-out babbies
List of tactics to get them to sleep

The toddler is sleeping on her own bed...we hope!

We got the toddler her own bed sooner than I thought. I was planning to get her a bed in December, when she turns two. But Dries brought her the brand new bed through friends, and we hope it is going to be a great investment! An investment in sleep...

Up until now she has been sleeping in the camping cot in her room. When she was not sleeping with us...

We bought the sidebar yesterday, and Mieka spent her first night in her own big bed. Amazingly the Angelcare still works through the thick mattress. I put her down at seven last night, and she woke again at twelve. I could climb into her bed and breastfeed her back to sleep. Dries was running around fixing up a bottle (thanks Dries), but she would have nothing of it. And then I could quietly slip out to get a good night’s sleep myself!

She slept through until 6:30 this morning, and we finished the night with her sleeping the last hour with us.

I am all for the co-sleeping arrangement, but our double bed does not really help. It is too small, especially when the little body turns sideways in bed.

That was last night. Mieka did not want to have anything to do with sleeping in her bed tonight. I had to lie with her in our bed again tonight. Hopefully we can carry her to her bed later...

Good night! (Wishful smile)
Related post:
Sleep woes continue

Cuddle at bedtime or cry-it-out babies

The latest research published about babies and sleep has again made me aware that we have been doing it right! Huge sigh of relief! We have not been doing the crying method with regards to sleep. When Mieka cries, we attend to her. We stay with her, and I nurse her, until she falls asleep. It feels right! It feels like the humane thing to do! But we (even ourselves who sometimes put the own barrier on our thinking) get feedback, even when she was very small, that you should let them cry, or not get used to your arms. Or you will have a spoilt baby…


That standard question that you get asked, especially when they are small little babies: “Is she a good baby?” As opposed to “Naughty”? What is that? Because they are more awake, and demand more of your attention, then the assumption is that she is naughty? And when you are sleep-deprived because of nightly wakings, then you are somehow doing something wrong?

Maybe it is something that goes into default mode. Default mode to parenting styles which was the in-thing when we were growing up. I even made the “mistake”, for the sake of peace in my previous life, to let my first-born cry after she was put down. (The teen has got ONE valid reason already when she blames her parents one day at the psychologist.) I cringe now, but at the time I had to please a jealous husband…

Penn State researcher Douglas Teti “examined the role of emotional availability on infant sleep” by putting in cameras in the bedrooms of babies between one month to 24 months.

He found:

• Regardless of a family’s night-time routine: parents who were responsive and warm had fewer night wakings and an easier time drifting off. It makes the child feel safe and secure!
• Scepticism towards sleep training: 1. it does not work! 2. It affects the parent-child relationship itself.

Now I know why it didn’t feel right to pat the baby, NOT look at her, and leave the room, and let them cry for a while before going back in. Still not making eye-contact! (It’s cruel! – my personal view!)

It gets better! Even though we had a bad night last night where Mieka just would not settle (I blame the five o’clock nap she got in the car), she mostly goes to sleep within 20 minutes when she is healthy.

All this too will pass, and we will definitely miss that small little body throwing her legs across us when lying next to us in bed…

Sleep woes continue

I have been reading Tasneem at MumDrum's sleep woes. I was patting myself on the back, saying that we have it a little bit easier. Not so!


As soon as we start to think that the toddler has a sleeping routine and that she is sleeping right through, everything changes! Murphy’s Toddler’s Law?

Most recent sleep stories:

- I sit with little Missy Toddler in her room, reading a book, and then breastfeeding her until she falls asleep.

- I try to put her in her bed.

- The legs start kicking, and she arches her back. (Swear-worthy moments!)

- In the end she ends up in our bed – for the whole night!

- I am much smarter now. I start the bedtime routine in our bed, and as soon as she is asleep, I carry her to her bed. (I think I have a 10% success rate at the moment. Sigh!)

- Hubby usually takes over at nine when I struggle to get her to sleep (from half past seven or eight at night). I miss him terribly tonight – he is not here, and I was not able to do anything else! (How do the single moms cope? I know, I ask this on a regular basis. You rock, single moms!)

- I do not have a problem with our toddler sleeping with us. But it is extremely uncomfortable hanging for dear life on the side of the bed, usually with only half or a fraction of the blankets covering us. The rest she kicks off as soon as we place it over her!

- Last night was extremely taxing. At one in the morning we were taking her temperature. Yes, she had a bit of a fever, and we had to put in a suppository. The tenth day flu/fever after the MMR injection?

- My most favourite wish at the moment – to sleep, and sleep, and SLEEEEEP!

- I know we will experience this most wonderful, precious gift of sleep somewhere in the future! Hang in there, Powerwoman!

(Photo: Mieka at the hockey game on Saturday where the teen played at her school.)

Our little Princess at 16 months; an update

(The detour at the hospital yesterday, with the abscess, got us a little bit side-tracked.)

What she is doing now at 16 months :

- I am a little bit worried about the language development. A friend said she should be speaking 10 words by now. Let me count: Mamma, Pappa (daddy), tatta, hello, Arnia... She is even calling every other object “pappa” now? And the rest is mermaid-speak. Should I be getting worried?

- The finger still points and she now comes to fetch us to walk with her. Not that it is always clear what she wants. It seems she is happy to go in any direction, as long as we are going with her.

- The new class at day care has definitely “turned on a few more lights”. She seems to be more interested in drawing, building puzzles and reading. It was a good thing to have moved her from the baby class. They also don’t have any problems with her going to sleep on the mat. She spends two hours sleeping in the early afternoon, a bit longer than the rest of her friends. (But she used to sleep twice during the day in the baby section).

- I am still breastfeeding. The two year goal is within reach! I think it is a comfort thing during the night. She loves to sleep while being latched on. I am treasuring these wonderful bonding moments. After I have seen the Avatar movie, I think of breastfeeding in the same context as the species on Pandora who latches on to the Tree and the animals with their “hair”.

- I am struggling to get her 100% healthy. She has missed the MMR vaccine at 15 months. It seems that she has an allergic type of sinus problem. I think milk is number one suspect, but I have looked on the shelves, and don’t think that soya is a good alternative. I feel a bit unsure to cut it from her diet at this stage? (Which a friend suggested.)

- She is sleeping much better. The problem is getting her to fall asleep. I feel that 8-9 is a bit late, but that is usually the time she goes “down”. She wakes up once or twice, and sometimes she goes right through until 6. I hate it every day I have to wake her for day care. Powerwoman is allowed to say it, and to keep on hating it! Not nice to be a working mother when you leave a sleepy baby in somebody else’s arms...

- She loves shoes! She has no problem in the mornings to sit down for us to put on her shoes. And she doesn’t take it off until she goes to bed at night. It was a struggle yesterday to take it off in hospital. She was trying to put it on again the whole time. She is a girl, for sure! (Smile)

When all else fails...

It has been a rainy LOOONG weekend! Wonderful weather and wonderful to have had a long weekend! (Sigh!)


It is very strange for this time of the year to have this kind of weather. Overcast drizzling weather. It feels like we are living somewhere near the coast.

This weather is not doing any good with regards sickness! The toddler is still struggling with her upper respiratory tract infection, but it seems we are beginning to beat it. She is not getting fever anymore! We are lending a nebulizer, and it seems to help a little. The first time that we are trying it! Dries put out his back picking her up, and sleeping next to her in our bed. Because she is not feeling well, she wants to be in our arms the whole time!

I was struggling to put her to bed, again, tonight! My parents are always very successful pushing a pram to get her to sleep. I tried it, and it took me less than five minutes and she was snoring! When all else fails, do the tried and tested! (I have learnt my lesson!)

(Photo: Mieka at Founder’s Grill yesterday where we met my brother for his birthday! Great place!)