Last night I posted about the two nap/waking up early problem. Well, last night I put her to bed a half hour early, since I've learned that "sleep begets sleep," when it comes to her. If she sleeps well, she sleeps longer. So I put her to bed early in hopes that she'd sleep longer this morning. It worked! She slept until just after 7:00 this morning. It was great--I had time to myself, took my shower, and was much more excited to greet her than I have been at 5:00, 5:30, or 6:00 this past week or two.
Since she slept later, I decided on no morning nap--I'll try just one today and see how she does. So what did we do with our long morning with no nap? I decided to brave the cold and attempt storytime at the library again. I haven't done it in months and months. The last two fiascos have made me shy away from them. But this morning I realized that she really needs the social interaction and I need to get over my fear of her social interactions (the fact that she's so social and I'm not), so we went. I took her there a little early because she likes playing in this little playroom they have in the library with puzzles and books. If we go there for a quick trip to just drop off or pick up something, she gets very bent out of shape if she misses her time in the playroom (to which I usually say, "too bad," and ignore her fit, but on a day like today when I wanted her to behave herself in a big group of people, I decided it was worth it to play a little first in the playroom and then go to the storytime). Well, everyone else going to the storytime seemed to have the same idea, because the playroom was packed with moms and toddlers. All the kids were sizing each other up, just watching and kind of milling around. Not my daughter.....guess whose child was in the center of the room jumping, dancing, smiling, and squealing with delight with all of the eyes on her!? Yeah....mine....how she ever is a product of my flesh and blood, I'll never know, but she's mine and I love her.
So then it was time for storytime. Once again, everyone was sitting on Mommy's or Grandma's lap (or at least right next to Mommy or Grandma). Not us.... When we first went in the room she spotted the CD player on the table in the front, which looks almost just like ours. She ran up to it and tried to push the button to start it, jumping up and down because she was so excited. The storytime lady came over and rescued the CD player by moving it back and then commented on how excited she was. Then when storytime started we sang, "If You're Happy and You Know It." She loves that song anyway, so she just clapped and squealed through the whole thing, while all the other kids were just kind of standing there--a few clapping, but mostly just the moms doing the words and motions. Everyone kept looking over at her (smiling, thankfully!). When the story lady started a book, of course she wanted nothing to do with sitting still. She wanted to go up to get the book, but I wouldn't let her. First I held her hand....she wriggled free. Then I took her to the back where there were a couple of boys kind of wandering around so she could wander around too. That worked okay--she wandered and smiled at the boys while the story was read, but every once in awhile she'd just squeal--she is just so excited when she's around other little kids that she just can't contain herself! During a felt board story, she actually did sit in my lap (for about half of it) and listen. For the other half, after she wriggled off my lap, I stood up and held her so she wouldn't run around bothering everyone else and she listened. She stayed in my arms the rest of the time. I think she was getting sleepy because every once in awhile she put her head on my shoulder for a second (which she never ever does!). She did pretty well listening the rest of the time, but every so often she'd push against me and try to get down. I wasn't going to chase her around the room, so I wouldn't let her down. She gave in and kept listening, especially enjoying the songs (one of them was actually a Laurie Berkner song she knows and loves, so she really liked that one). After every song or story when everyone would clap, she would not only clap, but squeal with glee. What an enthusiastic girl I have!
So overall it was more successful than the previous attempts, but she still has a long way to go. I know I need to keep taking her or she'll never learn....but will she ever learn? My husband and I are already worried about how she'll ever learn to sit still in school!!! I'm a teacher....I can't have one of those students! Tell me there's still time.....
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