Daily Dose of Mama: Mhnk, Mhnk, Mhnk

Monday, September 20, 2010

Mhnk, Mhnk, Mhnk

And thus ended Adoptivus.

Last night we were working on some sleep training. I've selected a program that is meant to "gently" ease my child over the course of months into wanting to sleep like a champion in his own bed.

How lovely and charming and idealistic. Rainbows, kittens, unicorns, slumbering babies, blah, blah, blah.

This book makes it seem so easy.

Stupid book.

Last night was bad. Like, very bad for our normal. Little Bug woke up at 11 pm and was seriously ready to play until 3 am. Appa and I got about 3 hours of sleep between us.

It was bad.

I was mad.

Forget this "gentle" crap....at about 1:45 I shut Little Bug in his room and held the door shut, hoping he would sob and pound and tug on the door enough to tire the umph right out of him.

Instead, he pitter pattered quickly to the door and did the last thing I expected.

He knocked.

He knocked over and over again, occasionally saying "mhnk, mhnk, mhnk" for emphasis. For about 3 minutes.

It only stopped when Appa and I could no longer suppress our laughter, and we let him out to come lay in our bed.

The rest of the night sucked, but those 3 minutes were enough to remind us that we actually liked him enough to want to try the "gentle" approach.

4 comments:

kellySeptember 20, 2010 at 6:16 PM
Hilarious. As someone else with some sleep issues right now, I know that laughter through tears is the only way to go...
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KatieSeptember 20, 2010 at 8:02 PM
Too funny.....hang in there and be "gentle" on yourselves too...this is a tough transition for ALL of you!
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KristenSeptember 20, 2010 at 10:17 PM
OH MAN! I was really hoping for rainbows and kittens and unicorns so I wouldn't dread undertaking this myself in the near future.

I like the knocking, take pride in the obviously well-mannered child you are raising.
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MeganSeptember 20, 2010 at 10:17 PM
Oh do I feel for you guys. We coslept with both of our boys and went through things I NEVER would have expected to gently ease them into sleeping on their own. It is one of those things that you push as far out of your mind when it is finally over as you can lol!

I promise you it will get better, in the meantime though I completely sympathize with your complete and utter exhaustion to a level you never knew could exist.
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Thanks for your daily dose of you....

Everyday Mama

I'm a 32-year-old everyday mama. My husband (Appa) and I adopted our first son Little Bug (at 10 months old) from Korea in September 2008. We adopted our second son, Little Bro, from Korea in April 2011 at age 21 months. We adopted our third son,Little Moon, at age 3 in November 2013. I've wanted to be a mama for a long time, but I'm still trying to figure out the reality of it all and take time to enjoy the delicate beauty of the highs and the lows.

I worked full time as an editor, which I loved; but I made the bittersweet decision to stay home with my children after Little Bro came home. I'm now clumsily finding my footing in a new world of housekeeping, menu planning, budgeting, cooking, cleaning, and rainy-day activities, as well as navigating the world of IEPs, parent advocacy, and special needs education (spoiler: I suck at house work). My husband is hot and smart and quiet and loyal, and I think (know) my sons are the cutest, happiest little boys in the world.

I also struggle at times with mild depression, anxiety, post-adoption depression, my husband's constant absence due to his stressful and super time-consuming job, the challenges of helping my older son with his sometimes exhausting special needs, and our transition to a family of three little boys with just 19 and 14 months between them. I worry way too much about what people think of me, hate talking on the phone, and I am trying to trust myself more.

Oh yeah, I'm unable to give birth to children; love books, writing, traveling, and the color brown; hate to clean, cook, craft, or do laundry; allergic to pretty much everything but food (thank God); and think camping in anything but a tent is lame.

I needed somewhere to drop my daily mama thoughts and musings on toddler poop to avoid massive clutter and ramblings on our private family blog. Writing it down on paper is so '90s.

This is my everyday "blournal" as I navigate through my life as a first-time (or is it third-time now?) mama and long-time me. So....hi.

You can contact me at daily.dose.of.mama (at) gmail.com.

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