Big Kid Stuff

There's lots of big-girl stuff going on around here, that's for sure.

Those of you who have stuck with this blog for a while might remember how, long ago, I wrote about kid "tipping-points." I'm too lazy to go back to the old blog and link to it, but I think the general theory I tried to put forth is that my kids seem to get into particular routines, which serve us all pretty well, and then they go through some developmental "phase" (usually miserable) which suggests they are outgrowing the old routine. When these phases hit, those are signs the kid is at a tipping point, and about to embark on a new routine.

It's quite the balancing act figuring your way through those points, because the kids and you aren't quite ready to give up the old routines, but you know they and you need to get on to the new routine. So you're all holding on to the old and paradoxically jumping into the new. It makes everyone a little crazy.

Nolie's headed toward a point right now, if not exactly balanced on the very end of the lever. She's not been sleeping well, and has been fussy, fussy, fussy during the day because of it. Like unbearably fussy. Needy, whiny, the whole bit.

The deal is this: pretty much her whole life, Nolie has slept in a quiet, pitch-black room. Any little light or noise, and she'd be up, wide awake.

Now? Big-girl stuff. Perhaps precipitated by the different sleeping arrangements on our trip to Canada, where Nolie got very used to sleeping with her sister, we've moved on to nightlights and soundtracks at bedtime. And it's working. She's sleeping better, for the most part, and seems less frightened and skittish, generally. But then, last night, she woke up at 3 in the morning, stayed awake listening to two cds while we pleaded with her to go back to sleep, and then finally conked out.

Kid tipping points.


Anybody want to guess what's going to happen when Addie starts Kindergarten in two weeks?

Lord.