Thursday, January 17, 2008

THURSDAY THOUGHTS


I know I've slacked off on Silly Thursday photos....that's part of my creative downfall. I get bored easily and have a hard time sticking to one thing. I tried uploading that video to YouTube last night and after 2 hours, it still hadn't gone through. Then they started doing site maintenance and it cancelled the whole uploading. Argh! I'll try to upload again tonight. The above photo is a Christmas gift we received from Don's family. His mom owns a framing biz and his sister helps out. They framed Nate's outfit he wore in China, his tiger shoes and a banyan leaf with panda bears painted on it. The painted banyan leaves are found only in Chongqing and the city also has the zoo with the giant pandas. Everyone asks if the outfit came with him. No, he was actually dressed in a green girl's outfit with a giant flower on the shirt and lacy sleeves...probably because boys are rarities in China adoption and they may not have had any boy outfits. That was the only outfit he came with and we decided not to frame it. His referral photo showed him in a little red coat that I was hoping we'd get. However, he was 5 months older when we got him so I'm sure they didn't have it anymore since he would've outgrown it.

Life has been interesting lately. Nate is cutting all the big teeth on the top of his mouth. He had been having several meltdowns this past week and seemed to be having more timeouts than usual over the last 2 months. I thought it was all due to the teething and his growing independence, but then we started looking at his routine. It was then that we realized our little boy was frustrated and confused because we had slacked off on a routine and specific instructions. The poor kid just didn't know what to expect from us! I had been bogged down with a lot of work over the last few months and with the holidays on top of it, I just let him roam the house and do whatever until his naps and mealtime..just so I could get some work done. He didn't know what his boundaries were so he'd get into everything and didn't understand why I was always getting on to him! Then, last week, we had been putting him to bed late, down for naps late and he was oversleeping. He also had 2 night terrors for the first time. Started crying in the middle of the night and wouldn't stop. I'd go in there and lay my hand on his chest to comfort him and he would cry and roll around, not waking up. Eventually he stopped and went back to sleep. He also wasn't obeying commands, like "Come here" or "Put that down", etc. That bothered me because if he was heading for a harmful situation, I knew he wouldn't listen to me and could get hurt. He was over-tired, over-stressed, over-stimulated and about that time, he let us know he had had enough!

So I started praying, and we started re-evaluating what we were doing, read a little from "ToddlerWise" (alias "Growing Kids God's Way) and remembered Super Nanny's schedule tips. On Monday, I started him back on a specific schedule...getting him up at the same time, arranging 30 min. increments of Structured play time (he plays with the toys I choose for him), Free Time (he plays with toys of his choice), Blanket Time (he plays with toys on a blanket and is not allowed outside the blanket boundaries), Room Time (plays with toys in his room) and Mom/Dad time. In between all that, I've been teaching him to look at me when I give him an instruction instead of ignoring me, teaching him to clean up his toys after each play time, praising him when he does the right things and basically letting him know exactly what to expect from us. The first day was hell. He fought my instructions constantly, screamed and cried for over 1/2 an hour when I told him to play in his room and refused to hold hands with us at mealtimes to pray. Needless to say, he sat in the "Naughty Chair" a few times until he calmed down. He was not being defiant..just didn't know what we wanted him to do yet. But we were persistent and the rest of the week has been HEAVEN!! Right now, he is happily playing on his quilt, no longer cries when I tell him to play in his room and eagerly holds our hands to pray. When I say, "Look at mom when I talk to you", he immediately responds and looks at me. He has not been in timeout for 3 days....amazing since it was becoming a daily ritual! As for me, I feel much more relaxed and more in control of our household and my time.

You'd think that since we watch Super Nanny we'd already know all of this. My mom says it's just a little common sense for the most part. Apparently I wasn't born with much of that so I need the extra guidance! Of course, after we started back on the schedule, everything made total sense to me. Duh!

Tonight I am doing something I have never done before...joining a work out class at our church. I have always resisted these because I prefer to be outside doing stuff (like hiking or other sports) but all I have lately are good intentions that don't get put into action. Since we have Thurs. night meetings at the church anyway, I decided to give this a shot. We've also been trying to eat healthier too. Hopefully, we'll have more energy to get through the day. As it is, a daily nap is almost a ritual for me. And I'm not talking about a 15 min. power nap. An hour is more like it. ha! Every time I take a long nap I usually don't sleep well at night too. Thus starts the cycle all over again and then I'm cranky because I don't get enough rest (hmmm...sounds like another little kid I know). Guess, Nate isn't the only one who needs boundaries and a routine!

1 comment:

RamblingMother said...

love the framed clothes. That is really something special to have. glad you figured out your new routine.

beverly