Catching Up

There's been a few things I haven't had the chance to share with you all this week. I could blame busyness, but it could just be laziness, so I wouldn't give excuses. I will say that I missed Photo Friday yesterday because I never ever had a chance to sit down at the computer long enough to find a great picture, let alone post it. There's always next week. For now, here's the latest news from the P & K household...

Paci Wars 2007
It's time. It really is. Padyn is 3 years and 3 months and it is time for her to sleep on her own without her pacifier. At least, that's how I feel. Joel doesn't care as much. But I just keep thinking if she doesn't give it up now, it's never going to happen. I decided that I would tag along with The Girls' Moma as she attempted the same with Coley Rose this month. February 1st. That was the date.

Amazingly, without prompting, on Tuesday, January 30th, Padyn decided she wanted to sleep without her pacifier for her nap and get her Magical Dora Carriage. I took this as a good sign and told her that if she took a nap without her paci, we could go out to the store immediately after her nap and buy it. I'm not sure she actually slept without the paci that afternoon. I left it on her desk and when I came in after her nap it was still on her desk, but she's becoming a bit more devious these days (more on that later) so she could have been lying to me when she said she hadn't slept with it. I chose to believe her and off we went to Toys R Us.

She is madly in love with her Dora Carriage. I let her play with it that afternoon. It was never out of her reach. When bedtime came, I knew the whole paci verses Dora Carriage battle would begin and I had already decided that I wasn't going to push it. After 10 minutes of being in bed, she just couldn't do without it, so I gave her the paci and said I was going to hold onto the carriage until she could sleep without the paci.

Wednesday afternoon, she took a nap without her pacifier. A real nap. A good, long nap. And I know she did because it because the paci was in my pocket the whole time. I think it helped that I gave her the Dora and Horse to sleep with as an incentive. But I was adamant that she could not have the carriage until she slept a night without her beloved paci. That night, she chose the Dora and Horse over her paci. Joel put her down and we didn't hear from her at all. We were patting ourselves on the back for how easy it all was. Then, when we went to bed, we decided to get the paci just in case we needed it that night. We went into her room to get it off her desk and it wasn't there. We were a bit confused and went into Kate's room to she if we had left it in there (Padyn was sleeping in Kate's room.) And there it was. In Padyn's mouth. She had gotten up after we put her to bed, went into her old room and got it herself. Hmmm....Interesting.

Now it's Thursday, February 1st. The day of reckoning. Naptime? No paci and no nap. She didn't want her paci, but she refused to go sleep. Flash to Thursday night. She went around and around as to whether she wanted her paci or the Dora Carriage. I tried to persuade her to chose the Dora Carriage by leaving the actual carriage in her room on her dresser where she could see it. I told her she was not allowed to play with it, but it would be there for to look at. In the meantime, she had Dora and the Horse in bed with her. She finally chose Dora and out we went. After about 5 minutes, we heard the door of her room open. Joel and I looked incredulously at one another. It's hard to believe your child is sneaky until you catch them in the act. We crept upstairs and found her in her old room searching around her desk. I couldn't contain my laughter. When she saw us, she immediately burst into tears. She knew she was caught. She tried to cover it up by picking up some random toy on her desk and claiming that she really needed that to sleep with. She refused to answer us when we asked her what she was doing, but finally, through her tears, she said she wanted her paci and we gave it to her while removing all semblance of the Dora Carriage from her bedroom.

Friday I didn't even give her the option of sleeping without the paci. She napped at a friend's house and we had overnight guests, so I wasn't into dealing with the paci war. But tonight? I have some other thoughts for tonight. Joel's gone and we have no guests, so I'm willing to go to battle for a bit longer. We'll see. I can tell you this-I know she can nap without it, so that is now how it's going to be at naptime. No more paci. Night might take a bit longer, and I do still feel very strongly that it needs to be her choice to give it up. I had visions of snipping the thing, but I'm not going to do that. Not yet anyway.

And the Dora Carriage? Dora and the Horse now decorate the ledge in the kitchen. There will be no playing with them until after naptime. The carriage? That will remain hidden under my sweaters until we have a night without the paci.

The Girls' Room
It's official. Padyn and Katelyn now share a room. After a few nights in the Dora Inflatable Bed to test the waters, we moved Padyn's real bed and dresser into the room Thursday night. It's been going really well. Well, that is for Padyn. Kate's had a tough week, but I'll get to that in a sec. But Padyn really hasn't been waking up in the night or calling out, even in the morning, since we moved her in there. She is so very happy to be sharing a room with Katelyn. I thought Kate's crying in the night would bother her, but she doesn't even seem to wake up.

Her old room is now the playroom. All their toys are in there and both girls love hanging out in there together during the day. We keep the Dora bed in there for naps and emergencies. We haven't had to use it for emergencies yet, but I do separate them during naptime. I'm not willing to sacrifice the naptime for the sake of togetherness.

The only drawback of them being in the same room? Kate wakes up much earlier than she used to. But at least she wakes up happy. Padyn is definitely the first thing she wants to she in the morning. Until she sees me, that is.

It's Tough to be Katelyn Right Now
I've been thinking that Kate was teething for the last two weeks. Her nose has been fountain of snot and she just hasn't been herself. She started waking up 2 and 3 times a night Monday and hasn't returned to normal yet. Monday night she stopped wanting to eat. She wouldn't even nurse when I put her to bed. Tuesday the diarrhea started. It lasted until Wednesday night. Thursday morning we went to the pediatrician for a follow-up to her ear infection a few weeks ago. Guess what? She's got another infection. This time in both ears. Back on antibiotics she went. New antibiotics that can produce? You guessed it...diarrhea. Oh joy. Just when the first round had cleared up. And really. The first round? Who knows what caused that. Could be she was sick, could be something I ate or it could be teething. Whatever it is, I was so happy to see it pass and so disappointed to know it was probably going to return

After a few days on the medicine she seems to be feeling better. Her appetite is slowly coming back, but she is still waking up and wanting to eat multiple times during the night. And she still has episodes of uncharacteristic fussiness during the day. Hard to know if it's the teeth, the ears, the tiredness, hungriness, or all the above. All I know is I'm tired and I'm almost ready to let her cry it out again. The guests are gone, Padyn doesn't seem to mind the crying and after feeding, Tylenol, and antibiotics, there really isn't much more I can do for her. Joel's flying this weekend. It could be a long two days.