What Hannah looks like when she’s in one of her ‘moods’.
That’s been recurring frequently again for the last week on account that she’s been experiencing a blocked nose and mild cold, and it’s affected her moods slightly and her sleep routines too. The former is pictured here. Hannah had a bathing standoff with Ling over the holiday weekend yesterday. Ling got so exasperated – she had been sick too – that she stormed out of the bathroom altogether and let me have a go at it.
And it wasn’t easy! Hannah refused to take her afternoon bath, and just sort of stood there and cried buckets and in her usual fashion, i.e. super poor thing that would melt anyone else’s hearts (except her parents who’d already used to it!). It took 30 minutes to calm her down, and that was through a lot of half-stern coaxing. I finally got her to let me bathe her. It was a sloppy + wet n’ wild effort as I’m nowhere as skilled as Ling in this activity. By the time we were all done with that in addition to lunch, it was an hour past her usual nap time.
There’re also her sleeping patterns. She’s been waking up in the middle of the night occasionally, and earlier each morning too. Ling and I still take turns to accompany her to sleep upon completion of her bedtime routine every night. It’s interesting again though to observe that we’ve both got very different approaches to this. Ling will stay with Hannah until she’s fully asleep, and that could take anywhere between 15 to 30 minutes each time. Me, it’s just 5 minutes, tops.
Personally, I think it’s a bad idea to stay with our girl till she’s in slumberland, as it only solidifies parental expectations on the part of the child on how to go to bed, and it’ll become harder for her to get weaned off it. My 5 minute routine each night, with lights off, is to hold Hannah’s hand through her cot railings, and get her to understand that it’s bedtime for her and that Mommy and Daddy need to move away and do other things too. I’ve found her quite receptive to our bedtime conversation each night, that there’s never been an occasion where I have to step back into her room to coax her to sleep. For some reason, Ling just doesn’t have the same kind of success I enjoy – Hannah whines the instant she senses Ling is leaving the room!
Oh well. Hannah still continues to delight us each day, though an increasing part of me is cognizant that it won’t be long before she’s out of toddlerhood and that we’ll be facing new challenges then.
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