Wednesday, February 11, 2009

The Witching Hour

So it seems that sometime between brushing her teeth and going on the potty for the last time before bed, LP suffers some sort of transformation a la Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

She becomes a screaming, crying, frustrating little mass. A little mass I have no desire to reckon with. Mostly for lack of energy, but also for lack of desire to be puked on (again).

Last night for no apparent reason she once again began contorting and thrashing. As if putting on her pull-up was a form of torture. For twenty minutes she clung to the portable baby swing situated in our upstairs bathroom, bottomless. Eventually the Hoos was able to get her into bed and she fell asleep by 9:45, but we are at our wits end.

We have no idea what brings on these meltdowns. We can't pin it on a change of routine or big event in our life. February 9th was a full moon, but I am not sure if we can really blame the waning moon for these horrific happenings. The Hoos hypothesizes that after all the attention bestowed on AK after her recent injury, perhaps LP is jealous. But why it would only take form at night as we get her ready for bed, I have no idea.

Tonight we are going to try to get LP to bed earlier. Perhaps it is exhaustion that is causing her to act out. I don't know how we will really get her to bed earlier, based on our schedule, but we will do our best. At least if she does have a tantrum she will hopefully wear herself out BEFORE my bedtime...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

LD does this too sometimes and is usually sparked by an event where she wants to do something herself. (ie brush her teeth). For her is all about control. Also the other night she just cried for no reason, citing she was upset that all her friends at school got in trouble and she couldn't finish her puzzle. The only thing that would calm her down was sitting with me the rocker while I sang the words to "Hush Little Baby" (which I was reading from my BlackBerry since I couldn't remember them) Now when she is stressed she asks for me to sing that song. Honestly I would think my singing would stress her out more, but it doesn't. Do you put both girls to bed at the same time? I noticed that sometimes my kids like to do it individually so they get more attention. Good luck tonight. Hope all goes well.

Dianna

A's Mom said...

LMA has started to do this as well recently. It's not like we changed our schedule or anything. Maybe it's that asserting his independence thing. I also read somewhere that children's half birthdays are when they seem to act up the most. ??

Tiffany said...

I don't miss those days even though they will be coming around again soon enough. I would say maybe a little bit earlier bed time (did it work?)

Just a hint for AK with Mikayla I loved Hylander's Teething Tablets. You can find them in a health food store but I have also been able to find them in the baby section of the local grocery store. (FYI - they do nothing for Lily).