Yup, that's right...we needed one more new thing introduced into our lives, but unlike the new baby, this is for both of my kiddos! A few weeks ago I had hit a "breaking point" and was in the bathroom, crying and begging God to send me some wisdom with how to parent Hailey and much to my surprise He did! (why is it that I ask God for things, but then am surprised when He actually gives them to me??) One of the nuggets of wisdom He sent me was through my doctor, who very wisely said, "if one thing isn't working, try something else" (kind of a "duh" moment, but I guess when you're sleep deprived you need things spelled out for you very plainly!) But, that just set the stage for the next nugget of wisdom that we have "new"ly introduced to our house this week! Which is "room time" and "crib time"! When I first heard of room time it was from a friend who said that her son plays nicely in his room for a 1/2 hour and that gives her a break to take a shower, clean up the kitchen, fix dinner- whatever she needs to get done...and I have to admit that I was hooked from the minute she said it- all I wanted to know was how do I get my daughter to do that!! But the more I thought about it the more I second guessed it and myself. I worried that making my daughter sit in her room for a half hour made me an awful mom and the fact that I really wanted a break from her made me an even worse one! Instead of implementing it right away I thought about it for a while and prayed about it some more and I realized two things: 1) I'm not the kind of mom who can always be doing stuff with her kids, I'm just not that Mom. I'm probably not as good of a Mom as someone who enjoys just playing with her kids all the time and snuggling with her baby constantly, but if I were to try and do that all the time I would be a very cranky and frustrated Mom! So, I have to do what works for me and for my family- and, clearly, keeping Hailey around all the time was not working for us- it was just making both of us frustrated and upset! and 2) Hailey needed to learn how to play on her own and be on her own- she can't always be following me around the house and expecting that I am going to entertain her, since it's not going to be her reality!!
So, yesterday was day 1 of Hailey spending half an hour in her room playing with her toys! It was AMAZING! I can't believe that it took me until Wednesday to try this- I shoulda done it on Monday! She cried and wailed and said "momma" in her very sad voice for maybe 10 minutes (and I almost caved, but I held strong- even taking her back to her room 2 times, when she came out) but after that it was done- she was done- she sat and played and entertained herself incredibly well for the next 20 minutes. And, for me, it was a great little break to get the bathroom cleaned, the floors scrubbed, and lunch made- all things that generally would have had to wait til her naptime or done with her "help"! And, today was even better, she only cried for maybe a minute and then spent the next half hour playing with her toys- toys that she barely ever even touches unless some other kids are around!
I couldn't get a picture of room time, so here she is, later in the day, sampling the cookies that we made for Daddy to take to work!
You may be wondering what Jackson was doing this whole time...well, since Hailey had room time, Jackson got some crib time! For the first time I put his mobile in motion and just let him hang out in there- awake- to smile and play with it! And, much to my amazement- he, too, had a great time smiling and cooing at his little winnie the pooh animals!
I'm so thankful that God brought me some wisdom on parenting my two little kiddos and I'm so thankful that He showed me that I don't have to be a cookie cutter Mom or treat my kids exactly like my friends treat their kids to be a good Mom!
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