Colleen is embarking on this great adventure of which she really has no concept. She has spent just one night away from Cate in three-plus years, hasn't been to Minnesota since before she could walk and has barely seen my parents. But she will be doing all three in fairly short order as Cate takes all three to Minneapolis the week before we move.
It's with that in mind that I have been putting Colleen to bed every night this week. Not that I've never put her to bed before, of course, since Cate has worked basically every Sunday and Thursday night for the past year and I've put all three to bed myself. But if Cate's home, Colleen gets her for bedtime, because she refuses to be put to sleep by me.
So this week it's been sink or swim so that Colleen can get used to anyone other than Cate at bedtime. And although there were some issues the first night because she could hear Cate talking to Robert in the next room, lately it's gone fairly well. I've often had sleep success with Colleen like I wrote about with Robert earlier this year. I can leave the room with Colleen partially awake and she will finish the job.
She still sometimes gets up at night before midnight, wandering out looking for Mom. But it's not actually Cate she's looking for, just someone to give her some company. It's very easy -- a sip of water, a hug, some soothing words and back to bed. If she's awake enough, she'll even walk back to her room herself.
Easy as pie. Good luck, Mom and Dad.
8 comments:
Sometimes you just have to curl up with her and she'll pass right back out again... When I was there in March and Pat and Cate went out for dinner and a movie she went to the bedroom and started crying because mommy wasn't there... I went in, picked her up and she said "Daddy?" and touched my beard and started crying again. She eventually settled down and fell asleep in the "toddler pose" I believe Cate called it.
Cute, but definitely freaked me out. Good luck Mom and Dad :)
We will figure it all out for sure. I seem to remember that kids are much more flexible than their parents realize.
I agree with Nonna. 1--Subconsciously, they know that it is hopeless to think Mom or Dad will come to their rescue, 2-- they are thinking this "Nonna and Da aren't asking to do it this way, they are doing it this way. I guess this is the way we do it in Minnesota."
Patrick left out that she wakes up at 4 a.m. too - basically because he's comatose at that time.
She sounds like she is on my sleep cycle. 4:00 is about the time I wake up, not that I get up then. Does she go down and make a pot of coffee and empty the dishwasher?
God, I hope she doesn't.... we don't need her to gash her knee open using the dishwasher to climb up to the counter to get a mug, too. That said, its much harder to see the scar these days.
I am sure that Nona and Da will take into account that Colleen is only three and will not understand the "Minnesota Ways"...in addition to dealing with packing up her world, feeling insecure without her parents around and three year old's reaction to the confusion and stress of the past two months. With all that being said, I am sure that her first week in Minnesota will be cause for much celebration!
Time at Nonna and Da's is going to be great! In hindsight, it's probably a really good thing E and R made the visit last summer so they can show Colleen the ropes.
Godmother Jennifer won't be too far away and is looking forward to seeing Colleen and her big siblings! We enjoyed eachother's company when we visited the family in April. I intend to bop by for a visit so Collen will have another familiar face around in case she's a little sad.
Nonna and Da- in case you are reading this, I'll be calling you! :)
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