Weaning went GREAT yesterday but Independent Playtime is the polar opposite of great.

I pulled out a toy she had gotten at Christmas that I had been saving until she was over a year old. She was excited about the toy. It is a Noah’s Ark with lots of animals she can put in the boat.

But as soon as I walked out of her room she immediately walked over to the gate in her doorway and started crying.

When she started calling out, “Mama, Mama!” I walked over to the gate and told her, “Little Bug it is okay! Play with your animals!”, but she continued to just stand there and cry until the timer went off less than 5 minutes later.

I just have to keep reminding myself that this is a work in progress. I can’t (and don’t) expect Little Bug to be able to play by herself for 30 minutes without my constant entertainment because I have (unknowingly) trained her to need me to be able to play. So it is just going to take some time, consistency and persistence for her to learn that IP is fun. (I am telling myself this, mainly!) As long as we are working towards the goal of 30 minutes of IP and making steps towards that goal everyday, we will be fine – even if those steps are just teeny, tiny baby steps.

It was a mistake to go back before the timer went off. That kinda defeated the purpose of the timer. Eventually, she will learn that the timer going off is when IP is over, not when she starts crying and whining at the gate! And like my Mama always says, Little Bug is a fast learner. Hopefully, she will catch on soon.

When I went in her room after the timer went off and said, “It’s time to clean up, Little Bug!”, she stopped crying and went to the Noah’s Ark (which I was cleaning up) and started playing. I told her again, “It is time to clean up!” We cleaned everything up (to Little Bug’s disappointment) and then left her room. A little while later we walked in there for something else and Little Bug went to the Noah’s Ark and said, “Psss!” So, she really does want to play with it and I really don’t think it will take too many more 5 minute sessions for her to learn it is okay for her to play with her toys in there by herself. Then, she will probably start crying when the timer goes off and it is time to clean up!

Naps yesterday went okay. It was nice for me because I knew what time I was laying Little Bug down and what time I was getting her up so I knew I had two 1.5 hour blocks of time to myself to get things done around the house and (gasp!!) relax!

Little Bug did well too. I’m thinking maybe being consistent with nap times is now more important than figuring out optimal wake time since Little Bug is 14 months old now. Soon her body will learn that 10am and 2:30pm (I decided 2:30 was a better time for her afternoon nap.) is naptime.

Yesterday she lay in bed awake from 10-10:30ish. Then by 11am she was awake but I left her in the bed until 11:30.

Then yesterday afternoon she laid down at 2:30 and went right on to sleep and didn’t wake up until 4:15!

I am trying to decide if she needs to go to bed at 8 or 8:30. Yesterday I put her to bed at 8. She was asleep by 8:15ish. Then around 9ish she started crying which is very unusual. It was less than 10 minutes and she was asleep again (or so I thought!). I opened her door to peek in on her and she was just sitting there in the corner of her crib!

I closed the door so she never saw me. Half an hour or so later, Dave went in and peeked on her and she was asleep. I told him to sniff for a poopy diaper or puke. He found neither.

My theory (which Dave makes fun of!) is this:

I think she was thinking about her bottles, wondering where they were. I have no idea if cognitively she could even think that way, but the girl is smart (and I am not just saying that because I am her mom). Her little world is made up of the people she loves, her bottles, her food, her bed, her toys. Yesterday, the bottles went missing! I think it was on her mind and woke her up in her sleep.

Last night after she went to bed I packed the bottles away. So, this morning, I got them back out of the box I had put them in. I showed them to her and told her it was time to say “bye, bye” to her bottles because now she drinks her milk from her big girl cup. The only thing she said was “Ba” and then she moved on to something else. (We were in my closet so she was interested in getting into my shoes!) I redirected her back to the bottles and we put them back in the box and that was that.

So, maybe Dave has a right to make fun of me for that theory! But, at least, I can rest at peace knowing Little Bug isn’t scarred for life because her bottles one day mysteriously disappeared! :)

Okay – Little Bug is napping – better go be productive!

- Elaine