Eleanor at 30 Months

We have been going through a time of transition with Nora lately. First, at the end of December, we took away her pacifiers, and that ended up having a profoundly negative impact on her sleep. Back when she still had her pacifiers, she would nap for 2-2.5 hours, no problem. Similarly at night time, she would lay right down and be out by 9pm at the latest. After the pacis were gone, she pretty much totally stopped napping and at night, she wouldn't go to sleep sometimes until close to 11pm. So naturally we decided that this would be the perfect time to transition her into a big girl bed instead of a crib (yes, I know that we are nuts).

We set up the new bed in her room and she was SO excited. We also left her crib in there and let her know that if she couldn't stay in bed and sleep like a big girl, we would put her right back into the crib. The whole first week was an absolute disaster. She got out of bed continually, was still not napping and was still going to sleep super late. Every night we would get exasperated after the 15th time of escorting her back to bed, and we'd end up putting her back into her crib, and then start the whole process over again the next day. Finally I decided that I had had enough and we were going to just take the bed out and try again in a few months, but before we did that, Michael fixed her door so that she couldn't open it very easily. Suddenly she stopped coming out of her room and started staying in bed and actually falling asleep in it! She even started taking naps (albeit short ones) in her bed, something she hadn't done more than a handful of times in a month! I was relieved as we really needed to start setting up the nursery for the new baby and the crib was a crucial part of that. Finally after three weeks of having the bed in her room, she was going to bed at a reasonable time (9:30ish each night) and started actually taking 1.5-2 hour naps each day. I am relieved that things are finally starting to get back to normal after a solid month of chaos!

Of course, she does still occasionally come out of her room still on nights when she has too much energy. The funniest thing is when she will run into Will's room, grab something and run back out (like a clandestine raid). From downstairs, we will hear an indignant yell from Will, and we dash up the stairs to try and catch her in the act. She is quick though that by the time we make the 10 second journey to her room upstairs, she is already back in her bed, with the covers drawn up over her head, acting innocently. Of course the wide open door that she neglects to close is a dead giveaway ;)

Nora and I had our first argument last night. It started when I heard a big bang in her room, while I was downstairs. I go up to check on her and she is nowhere to be found. I called her name several times only to hear dead silence for at least a minute. Finally I hear a brushing sound and she emerges from underneath her bed. The conversation then went a little something like this:

Me: "Nora! What are you doing? You are supposed to be in bed! Come on, lets get you into bed."

Nora: "No!" (she doesn't pronounce her Ns though so it sounds like she is asking 'oh?').

Me: "Yes its getting late and you need to be asleep!"

Nora: "No?"

Me: "Nora you can get into bed on your own like a big girl, or I can carry you."

Nora: "No?"

Me, "1 . . . . 2 . . . ."

Nora: Climbs into bed finally.

End Scene.

Nora loves to be tickled, and so the other night Michael was reading her a bedtime story where she had to look and find hidden objects in the pages. She started a game where she would purposefully point out wrong objects (she is a master at this book and never gets them wrong usually), in order to get a small tickle from Michael. He thought that was pretty funny. That kid has a good sense of humor, that is for sure!

Though we encourage her to use words every day as much as possible, she still doesn't talk much, but she still manages to make her needs and wants very well known. She loves to say, "noooo!" and when she doesn't like or want something, she doesn't hesitate to tell you so. I love that she loves to cuddle and hug and kiss us regularly too. She is a very physically affectionate child and with all of the time I've spent on the couch being sick the past few months, she has been my constant companion. She LOVES to be read to also and will gladly do things like get dressed and brush her teeth, if it means she will get a story read to her. I love my quiet, feisty, sweet little daughter!