Just Call Me "The Spatula"

It's 2:13 AM and I am blogging. Why? So glad you asked. Little Sarah has mastered a new skill: rolling over to her stomach from her back. As wonderful as that is, she doesn't really love being on her tummy and has yet to figure out how to flip back over again. So she rolls over and gets trapped. You would think that logic would dictate that if rolling over onto your stomach is unpleasant, then stop rolling onto your stomach, right? Well apparently logic is also a skill lost on a 6 month old. Maybe they get that at 7 months? Not sure. I'll have to check the books on that one.

Either way, it has created a sort of middle of the night "dance" between my sweet baby and me. She rolls over while sleeping, wakes and can't get back to sleep. Wailing ensues. I come in and flip her. Now since it is virtually impossible to flip a baby w/o being seen by said baby, she begins wailing even harder because "Mommy just came in, looked at me and left." What she doesn't know is that Mommy is hiding behind the closet door watching to see if the thumb will make it into the mouth allowing sleep to resume.

Eventually the thumb does make it into the mouth. However the thumb, being located on the hand which just so happens to be located at one side of the body, causes her to turn her head to the side. For reasons lost on me, this head turn causes her to turn her entire body to the side which usually results in a baby who is once again flipping over onto her stomach. And the dance continues.

For the past 4 or 5 days, this "dance" has been lasting almost an hour before Sarah falls back to sleep. And usually? It derails nap time altogether. So I am constantly on call to flip this poor baby in the hopes that she can get some rest. I feel like a human spatula.

. . . she is finally asleep so I am off to bed. I'll finish this later. YAWN.

Okay, Part II. Sarah did finally fall asleep only to wake up an hour later. I got a grand total of 3 1/2 hours sleep last night.

Now all this would be exhausting enough, but I also had to choose THIS week to begin potty training Claire. UGH. What was I thinking? What a crazy task that is. It means I am constantly on watch-dog mode during the day. I can't leave Claire's side for a minute because I am watching her every move to signal me she is ready for either a quick dash to the toilet, or a large towel to mop up the mess she made.

We tried the training panties, but those apparently feel just like a diaper to Claire so she just pees and poops in them and stays as happy as a lark. Doesn't seem to bother her one single bit that she is wet and messy. In fact, I found her the other day dancing in a pool of urine in the playroom. Nice huh?

So, upon advice from friends, we decided to try the bare bottom approach. No diaper, no panties, just a cute little naked tooshie running around the house. This was seeming to do the trick because Claire would NOT "go" at all when she was bottomless. She didn't seem to mind sitting on the potty. In fact, she would sit on the big potty for up to 15 minutes while I read books to her. (not convenient when you have a 6 month old screaming for attention at the same time) And she was willing to sit on the baby potty (in front of the TV) for over an hour while she watched cartoons. So she has mastered the art of "sitting" on the potty. However she would never "go" on the potty.

I officially gave up yesterday and today we are back in diapers. I am not too concerned. I know she will get it when she is ready. I am, however, hoping that my wonderful mother-in-law is correct. She said that Claire will basically train Sarah when it is time because Sarah will want to be just like big sister. So in theory, I should only have to go through this once. Here's hoping!!