Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Interrupted Sleep and Good Advice Followed

Last night I got such a big fright...  Let me explain.  It all started when little Kiddy#2 who normally sleeps through the night decided to see how loudly she can cry (or rather scream) minutes after I have fallen asleep.  Her Dad woke with a jump asking what is going on with the kids.  I in return jumped out of bed, running to their room only to find that she was just irritated by the blankets or her sister's feet or whatever it was that irritated her.  Back to bed I went.

An hour or so later, I didn't actually check the time this time around, same thing happened.  Kiddy#2 started screaming and flew open and at that instant I was looking straight into Kiddy#1's eyes which were mere millimeters away!  My heart stopped!  She was standing next to the bed with her nose against mine, probably hoping that I would wake up gently and make space for her to lie down!  Needless to say I got a big fright!  (putting it mildly!).  I took her hand and went back to their room to check on Kiddy#2, my heart still racing from the shock from seconds earlier.  I lied down with them until they were both asleep again.  As I got up they both woke up AGAIN!  So I lied back down as that was the only way I was going to get any sleep.  After a very uncomfortable hour or so I got up and went back to our bed.  At that point my heart was still racing and I was wondering if I shouldn't perhaps take something to calm me down.  I've decided against it and eventually fell asleep again.  This morning I could hardly get my eyes open when the alarm went off.

Advice followed
The Therapist Kiddy#1 has seen last week has given us some advice on how to handle some difficult situations that might arise like if she is whining or clingy, etc.  I wasn't sure if it would work, but this morning I put it to the test.  She was whining and telling me how she is going to be naughty from now on and how she is not going to listen to me because she is angry, etc. so I've played the 'reversed psychology" game with her and said to her "No, Mommy is going to be naughty, I'm the naughty one, not you, I am not going to listen and I'm going to be naughty.  I'm the naughty Mommy" and I carried on in a playful tone of cause.  The outcome was that both her and Kiddy#2 started giggling because now they have a 'serious problem' on their hands with Mommy being naughty and the problem was solved.  No more whining.  Of course I'm not convinced this will work every time, but it is worth a try.  It worked much better than fighting.

Craft update
I haven't had a chance to post an update on our craft projects, but here is the latest.  On Friday night we have made some Christmas-tree decorations again.  On Saturday night we made wings from paper plates and (don't laugh) corn on the cob leaves.  Last night we made crowns.  Kiddy#1 decided to use the tree decorations she made to decorate her crown.  Kiddy#2 used golden stars.  All of these were inspired once again by Melanie B.  You can see her blog here:  http://melanieblignaut.wordpress.com/.  I had to improvise on all of them because I haven't had a chance to go and buy supplies yet. We continued to speak about the prophecies from Angel Gabriel to Elizabeth and Maria about Jesus being born as the Messiah who will reign for all eternity and how John would prepare the way for him.  Here are some pics:




Visit from Granny
My Mom-In-Law is coming to visit from tomorrow and will stay until January.  I've mentioned this to the girls, but I don't think they realized what I've said.  I'm sure they will be pretty excited to see her though.  They only see each other once a year because we are staying so far apart.

New begiinings:
I had a nice chat with Kiddy#1 and Kiddy#2's new school principal for next about the issues we are experiencing with Kiddy#1 at the moment just to prepare them that it might be another difficult transition for Kiddy#1.  I'm feeling more relaxed about them starting at the new school.

3 comments:

Melanie B. said...

I'm glad my posts have given you some craft ideas. Thanks for linking back to me. :)

Very clever to use corn leaves for the angel wings!

cat said...

I really hope you have an easier transition and yeah for good advice .

Marianna Pieterse's Stories said...

Melanie B your ideas are brilliant and the girls love it! Cat, thank you for your reply and for the good advice I got from you too!