Figured I should report back on our Night Weaning Journey.
We started night weaning Meeps over Christmas, when Scott had some time off work. The deal is I tell her The Booby sleeps at night and will be awake in the morning. (5am). The first few nights were horrific, what seemed like endless screaming. We don’t leave our kids to cry alone (I wouldn’t leave Scott if he was upset) so there were several nights of feeling like my brain was going to actually explode, leaving the dog something else disgusting to lick up. Then she gave us a handful of remarkable sleeps; she would stir around midnight, Scott would pat her down, then sleep until 5am. Now Meeps is wise to the fact that it’s Scott patting and not me, so she whips around to see it’s him and starts howling. I don’t give her The Booby until it’s morning, no matter what, so every night there are several periods of dreadful shrieking to endure.
So that’s where we’re at. I have night weaned, except I am getting no more sleep than before, and now my night is now punctuated with high pitched skull piercing bawling instead of nursing.
Reminding myself of the Founding Principle of Parenting… and that principle is: Suck It Up. We stay with our children while they are upset, so I just need to enjoy all of these recent mini vacations to my Happy Place and know that THIS TOO SHALL PASS. She won’t do this forever. It will get better. I am not going to compromise my parenting ethics, I am doing everything I can do to make the situation positive, I tell her what a good sleeper she is, I fill her full of positive reinforcement. Therefore there is nothing for me to do but Suck It Up.
I am presently in the middle of finishing up a pair of Amish pants for Bob. They are really cute, can’t wait to post a picture of him in them. If you’ve never seen an Amish pattern before, below is what I took home from Ida’s place the other day: two pieces of butcher paper and a little diagram that I made to attempt to remind myself of the basic construction of the lining, the suspenders, the pockets, the button placement, the waistband… all of the things NOT included in the cut out pattern. (By a wing and a prayer is how I sew!)
If anyone out there has any old silkscreens laying around, I’m interested. I would love to slap a couple of skulls to the side of Bob’s pants.
Bob is really into letters right now, phonics. Most of my days are spent answering “What does TRUCK start with? What comes next?” He’s really into learning to tie knots, baking cookies, helping wash dishes and the table, and tattooing us.
Both kids love the new super long sled we got to help me out with goat chores. Now instead of slowly alternating between moving Meeps and the 5 gallon water jug in spurts in the direction of the goat shed, I can load both kids, the jug and the food onto the sled and pull them to the shed. Last night we took the kids for a walk around the corner (we were gone over an hour, made it only a fraction of the way around our “block”) and it was so nice. We didn’t see a single other person, but we did see some cougar tracks coming out of the bush by the river that runs through the back of our place. Meeps fell asleep on the way home, totally folded in half into her own lap like a ragdoll. That sled sure rocks the monkey.
Some of my seed catalogues have arrived already, so my nights are filled with colourful plans. I’ve convinced Scott to let me order bulbs for Mother’s Day and I can’t wait to get my orders in. I can’t wait for baby chicks, for dandelions, for the goats to be on grass again.
The days are getting longer again, I can feel spring on the horizon.
Would really love to know what kind of camera you have , those pics are stunning!!!!
I mostly shoot with an older Rebel with a 20mm 1:1.8 lens on it.
You are so optimistic. In Maine I feel very, very far away from spring.
Continued luck with the nightweaning!!!
So optimistic. I can’t wait for spring, too. The photos helped me to remember that it will arrive.
i am so dreading night-weaning… my twin boys will be 1yr shortly (and i am in fact alive, yay!), and i know it’s on the horizon… howling boobie monster x2 is a scary thought! you are doing great!!!!!
I loved the “the bobby sleeps at night” comment, too funny and cute! Ah your images remind me that yes, spring shouldn’t be too much longer on the horizon.
I can’t wait to see the Amish pants all finished. I wish I could sew well enough to make clothes. I am getting there though, I started making a quilt, and embroidery and knitting since it got so cold and horrid. I did have a question actually, regarding your animals and the winter. When we move, I really want to get chickens. This might sound like a silly question, but what do you do with them in the freezing cold winter? I have never lived somewhere that it gets so cold so I am somewhat naive as to where to put them come winter time, or if I would have to get rid of them and start again come spring! Okay, seeing this written down it look very very stupid indeed.
Alex – All meat birds are in the freezer by fall and the 4 layers (we are on our 2nd set) either go into the freezer too or go to a friends barn for the winter. We don’t have a barn, just a big shed essentially for the goats, no room for chooks.
Thank you all.
xx
Ah man, that sounds awful. I know about bad sleeping – until he was two Leo was a *very* light sleeper, and it seems he only needed 5 – 6 hours of sleep at night. If I left him on his own, he would scream (and bash his head and throw himself around – that started as soon as he could sit on his at 5 months), if I co-slept, he would just play with me most of the night. I persevered and eventually he got used to the idea that bedtime was bedtime, we had one or two nights of very minor niggles when we put him down and he now sleeps like a rock!
Keep going. You are doing the right thing, and she will turn a corner before you know it!
Oh! The Amish trousers look cool! Have you thought about slapping one of these awesome embroidery designs on them?
http://www.sublimestitching.com/
Those Amish trousers look adorable!
Those Amish trousers are darling! I always admire them on our dairy farmer back home. Where did you get the lens?
good on you for sticking to your intentions and not giving the boob in the middle of the night, despite the shrieks. meeps is experiencing what’s called the extinction burst. all behavior undergoing a modification escalates in intensity/frequency for a while before finally mellowing out and becoming extinct.
i always wondered about your camera & was going to ask myself one of these days. i’d like to invest in one someday soon, as the hubby has an eye and i’d like to foster his visions.
i feel spring on the horizon, too. feels good.
I remeber those lovely days of weening….they felt endless.
My husband does custom silk screening and I’m sure he has a screen laying around thats no longer in use. They are rather large, 20×24 with a wood frame and a white mesh screen. If your doing them for Bob’s clothes you could fit a ton of different designs on it. I might even be able to get him to burn the screen for you
Gods, reading your night-weening updates makes me realize how blessed I am with my childrens sleeping habits! My son (now 7-1/2) was sleeping 12 hours at 2 months, and my 16 month old daughter is now only getting up for one night feeding in a 12 hour period. Unless, that is, she is cutting teeth. Bless you and your patience!
Jen – shoot me an email! 20×24 is cool, I would eagerly send balm/soap/whatever else I can in barter! twwly@mac.com
Sarah – I got the lens through Amazon.com — what can I say? It was the cheapest option!
I really do love the lens, it just soaks up light. You do need to be able to handle your camera on a manual setting, or get comfortable making those manual adjustments, because if you just use it on auto you may find there is TOO much light and it blows out. But really…. man, I adore it.
Trying (TRYYYYING) to keep up the patience! I definitely lost patience today when both dogs barfed at once and at the same time Bob smashed my glass bodum (which I had asked him NOT to play with 1 minute prior) onto the floor. Not a shining moment. Thankfully, short lived.
Do you really have dandelions already up there in Canada?! Here in New England its still a frozen tundra…
whoops, of course you don’t have dandelions yet, I didn’t read all the way down…
Thanks Twwly for the information! I wasn’t sure and you have cleared things up! We don’t have room for a barn y’see but I think I can get access to a barn pretty easily around here, and if not, I looooooooooove chicken.
I wish we had dandelions Jay! I cant waiiiiit. I must figure out something to do with them this year, we clearly have so many!
Dandelion wine!!!^^
The pattern rocks my socks! I love how you are tackling lining in those – very impressive. Please post a pic, I will see about knocking off an adult pair at work. I run into Amish frequently, but never want to stare at there clothing.
I too, am getting my seed catalogs and am longing for spring.
In my yard, i have taking to gathering all the bulbs left by the previous owner and rounding them up to one spot.
I went to the PA farm show this week, look a 100′s of beautiful goats and thought of you/your farm!
I’m on the complete opposite end of the breastfeeding tunnel. My little one is 6 days old. I stay posi by telling myself I don’t really like to sleep more than an hour at a time! Maybe it works
And oh man! I can sew things as complicated as leather coats, and I tailor everyone’s clothes, yet I still cannot grasp any patterns outside the ones in my head. Those Amish pants are going to turn out awesome for sure. I get most excited when I’m making clothes for the little one!
I still remember night weaning Layla when she was about a year and a half. Someone told me she would scream all night for 3 nights, and that’s exactly what she did. The same person told me to put a pillow over my head, which I did. It was still pretty unbearable for both of us, but 3 nights isn’t that long. My health improved dramatically after that. I had been getting a cold at least every month before night weaning. I can’t recall going through that with your other cousins, but maybe I just don’t remember it.
Why on earth are the goats in a pen and the kids outside. Shouldn’t it be the other way around?