Regression

This post will be shorter than previous ones, mainly because I have LOTS to do today. Sure, Jamie, you're a stay-at-home mom. What can you POSSIBLY be busy with. :) Okay, okay, so it's a lot for me, as a stay-at-home mom. Ha! Trust me, I don't forget the busyness that comes with mothering AND working full-time. I don't miss it much, either! Anyway, I've got a naked jaybird running around today (new approach to getting Charlee to poo poo in the potty), so I'm busy shadowing her every movement to make sure we don't have a pile hidden in the corner somewhere. :P Next, I've got literally hundreds of boxes to go through (okay, maybe not LITERALLY) to get stuff ready for a garage sale this weekend. I also have a sick baby boy who is not very happy with the stuff stopping him up and coming out of his nose today. :( On top of all of this, my house is a wreck, which seems to put me in an icky mood. SOOOOOO, I have LOTS to do today. :) Blogging is my break while Barrett is sleeping and Charlee is watching Dora (in HER chair covered in a thick blanket).

Charlee has always been a great sleeper. She slept through the night at 8 weeks and would only wake up in the middle of the night if she was going through a growth spurt or if she was sick. Even then she usually only woke up once a night. At least, that's how I remember it for the most part. Lucky I was, I know! I realize that now that I have a little boy who likes to hang out with his momma in the middle of the night. We were doing good, but he's back to waking up a couple of times this past week or so. Back to Charlee, though. Right before Barrett came along, we decided we would use Charlee's crib for him and buy her a big-girl bed. We bought a full-size mattress and box springs and put up a side rail. She did great with the transition, but we had to stay in the bed with her until she fell asleep for the first few weeks. Finally, she was a BIG GIRL and let us read to her, pray with her, and sing a few songs, then leave her to fall asleep on her own with the door closed. A couple of months later, she started opening doors. She loved doing this so she would come out of her room several times at night before finally giving in and falling asleep. Then, she started wanting her door to stay open, so we would leave it open until she fell asleep then close it so that her brother didn't wake her up while he was wailing in the middle of the night. Soon, though, she got upset about us closing the door and would get up to reopen it at night. Now, she makes us promise we won't close it. The last couple of weeks, we've regressed even further. She started wanting one of us to lay down with her, read, pray, sing, then she would summon the other of us (if Chandler was in town) to come in and lay down with her. One night I went in after Chandler had gone through the nightly routine. I sang a couple of songs with her and then told her I was going in the other room and she needed to go to sleep. What was her response? "Mommy, I wanna play with your hair." Okay, I feel it necessary to explain that one of my absolute favorite things is for someone to play with or fix my hair. LOVE IT! I always try to get Charlee to play with my hair, brush it, put it in clippies, whatever. She is NEVER interested. Now, all of the sudden, when it's time for me to leave her at night, she is begging to brush it. So, I did what any of you would. I let her sleep habits regress a little more. I get to lay down with the sweetest little girl in the world and have her lull me to sleep every night now. :) At the young age of 2 1/2, she's already got her momma figured out. SCARY!!