Lay down, mommy!

Kira has been such a terrible self-sleeper since she was a baby. Blame it on me cosleeping if you want, but I would have never traded those moments for anything. But, now that she is older, I would like to reclaim the bed. So, the plan was to start training her to fall asleep on her own and stay in her own bed all night when we returned from our trip to NY. Before then, we were able to get her to sleep in her own bed, but halfway through the night, she would gather up all her "friends" and "blankie" and trudge to mama's bed to sleep the rest of the night.
Since she was so happy with her "princess bed" at Grammy's house, I decided to use the motivational reward concept to help her with this transition. The very first night we were back, I talked to her about how important it is for big girls to sleep in their own beds. I promised her that after a week of sleeping in her own bed at night, she could go and pick out her very own "princess" bedding at the store. Or Elmo, or Nemo, or whatever else she wanted. She seemed excited by this, but I wasn't really sure she understood. But, she slept in her bed all night that night...and I didn't stay in her room after tucing her in like usual, either. And then she slept in her own bed the next night, too! Woohoo! Last night, she put herself to sleep again, but at 2:30 in the morning, I heard her sneaking into my room with her arms full of "friends" again. I softly reminded her of our plan and carried her back to bed. She was back in my room 30 minutes later, but we gathered everyone up and went back to her bed again. This time, she stayed put. And even slept in until 10:45!
So, we are halfway to our goal. If I can stay focused enough not to give in to the temptation to just let her crawl into the bed...and stay strong enough to avoid the sad looks I get when I take her back to her room, we might just make it!
Although, I have to admit, I think it's so darn cute when she comes in to my room, not alone, but with several carefully chosen friends...and blankie joining her.

Afraid to fly

She did fine on all the other flights she has been on...so I had no reason to think any different. But, this time she was watching out the window as we took off. Big mistake! As the ground dropped away and we turned to the right, leaving her a view of nothing but clouds, she screamed in terror. Suddenly, she was clawing at her car seat straps and yelling "look out" with big tears rolling down her cheeks. There was little I could do to ease her fears. Luckily, a very nice woman took Alayna so I could focus my energy on Kira. Needless to say, we shut the window for the duration of the trip! With a little distraction at take off time and movies once we could use them, we survived!

Taming the curls

OH, it is a big challenge, that hair of hers! ANd I have no idea what to do with curls, since I am lacking there myself! Every morning, she wakes up with hair like "Joe Dirt" and we try what we can to comb it down. Usually it requires a bath and re-do. It comes out so soft and with the prettiest ringlet curls, but, of course, with the first nap or change of shirt....there goes the style. I have been trying new products and stumbled on a line called "Cozy" which specializes in products for curly kids. The styling cream is fabulous and the detangler is yummy smelling and really works on those snarls. But, I'm still not seeing a big difference in the frizz factor. Oh, please, if someone knows what to do with these curls! (Pictures to come...)

Getting Dressed

Kira's latest discovery is that she can dress herself! She still lets me get her dressed in the morning, but all through the day, she loves to "add" clothing. Her favorites are shocks and shoes, but she also loves accessories (hats, necklaces, bracelets...). She can get pants on up to the knees, but hasn't quite figured out yet that she has to bend over to grab them and pull them up! And shirts are really a challenge, and she tries to often put her legs in the sleeves! She is very proud of herself, of course, so we often stomp around the house with shoes on the wrong feet and pants on backwards, but I will say...she always matches!
Now if only we could figure out how to tame that hair!