Monday, September 08, 2008

Battle of wills

Aliza and I are in the midst of a battle of wills....I'm trying to get her to nap, and she is fighting it tooth and nail.
Here's the thing, I KNOW she's tired. I also know that when she naps she is a much happier baby. She, however, doesn't like to nap during the day. She prefers to hang out on her play mat, or to talk to her mommy, or to go for walks, or to sit in her swing, or to read books.....all very well and good but the little darling has been awake since 7:45 this morning and has only taken the briefest of naps (ten minutes, tops) all day.

So today I decided on a new tactic. I put her in her sleep sack, put her in her crib, and turned on the mobile. I fully expected that this would not work, and, sure enough, not even two minutes after putting her down, she was wailing her little head off. I strengthened my resolve, firmed up my backbone and let her cry for a bit. A few minutes later, blessed silence. I look at the monitor, dare I hope? Is she asleep? Nope. Not yet, but her eyes are heavy. Just as I was thinking that it wasn't so bad, and that I could handle a little bit of crying every day if it meant she napped, she starts screaming again.

Sigh. A few minutes later, she stopped, this time her eyes are shut. Phew. She's OUT! I mentally pat myself on the back, convinced I won this battle. Foolish, foolish hope.

Two minutes later she's wailing again. Sigh. OK, this time I tell myself I'm giving this five more minutes and then we are going for a walk. I know she'll fall asleep during our walk. I'm beginning to be convinced that my baby girl will win when, suddenly....silence again!

Now I'm skeptical. Is she really asleep or will she start crying in a few minutes? I wait....and wait....and wait...ten minutes later and all I see when I look at our monitor is a sleeping baby girl! YES! Victory is MINE!

At least for today.....at least for now.....

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Big Day-
Hooray for you both!!!
Aliza is learning to comfort and settle herself- very hard to do. You have allowed yourself to do a very hard thing... listening to her cry and not running to help- sooo hard.
Congrats to our girls!!
Love you,

Anonymous said...

You go Lisa!! Scottie and I were listing our favorite things about Aliza last night. There were lots. WE MISS HER!

JaxMom said...

Yeah!!! Good job! We went through night time battles like that for a brief while, but near the year age. It is SOOO hard to sit and listen to the cry, and the clock moves so slowly, but it does work.

Kelli said...

Good for you Lisa. Hopefully a few more afternoons of "the battle" will end in a victory for Mommy! (And a victory for tired Aliza though she may not realize that yet, ha ha.)