Thursday, June 25, 2009

Nighttime Update

Last night was a nightmare. Cam STILL screamed and threw a tantrum until 11:30. I had given him LOTS of snacks (he ate a bag of popcorn and some chips before he went to bed) but nothing seemed to work. I tried talking with him, reasoning with him, I'd told him that I would come to his room and give him extra kisses in 15 minutes, I tried spending some extra time with the boy (I rubbed lotion on his feet so he had physical contact) but NOTHING worked to calm him down.
While I was rubbing his feet, I told him that once I was done I was leaving him and I hoped he'd sleep. (I'd put Jake in his crib. Jacob found it funny that mommy was sitting in his bedroom on the floor talking quietly to Cameron. He kept poking his face between the slats and grinning at me.) When I told him that I was leaving, the melt-down happened all over again. He was DETERMINED to sleep on the top step of the stairs.
I left him to yell and scream, also keeping Jake awake, and just broke down myself.
We've tried reasoning with him. We've tried just ignoring his screams and yells, that only makes him yell louder. We've tried taking away fun things. We've tried lectures. We've tried snacks. I'm getting to the end of my quickly fraying rope.
Who knew being a mom would be SO hard?
My main fear right now is that if being Cameron's mom is THIS hard right now, how am I going to survive his teen years?

3 comments:

Elena said...

WHat is it that he is crying about? Do you know? Maybe you should just let him stay up. Turn off all the lights and go to your own bedroom. Tell him he doesn't have to go to bed, but everyone else is. I don't know....take it or leave, just trying to throw new ideas out there.

Rebekah said...

I'll put your family's names in the temple. You for sure need the extra prayers. Love you!

stevie kay said...

What if you let him sleep somewhere else? Landon hates his bed but will happily sleep on the couch, floor, or even bathtub (if I let him do the last one, he'd be overjoyed). I don't know the situation well enough to know if this is an option, but I thought I'd throw it out.