18 Month Thoughts

The past month with Claire was rough.  She was cranky, needy, not listening, not sleeping well, not eating well, and she had the stomach bug.  I'm not sure why this last month was so difficult, but I do have a lot of guesses.  First I really think her teeth coming in were bothering her.  I also think she got so sleep deprived that her sleep and her behavior got increasingly worse as she got less sleep.  You would think babies would just sleep if they are tired, unfortunately that is not the case.  I have also read that many babies go through a rough, transitioning period around 18 months...Claire hit that one I believe!  And obviously having the stomach bug is big reason to not feel well.  She had diarrhea for about four days and threw up once during that time period; she was so whinny and difficult. 

BUT, I am happy to report that Claire is finally back to her normal self for the most part!  The best thing I could say is that she is a pleasure to be around again.  Claire is back to sleeping and eating well and cheerful for the most part.  She even wakes up happy from her nap most of the time and plays be herself well again!  I am wondering, what changed?  Again, I'm not really sure, but I do have a few thoughts on why.  I think that she just had to work herself out of this bad transition period at this age.  Sometimes, just time and consistency on my part help.  Claire's sleeping habits really were a disaster, she would only sleep 40mins to and hour for her nap and she started sleeping less than 10 hours at night.  That is when I knew I really had to do something.  I tried rocking her, singing to her, feeding her, and any other comfort thing, but none of it worked.  In the end I just knew she needed to cry it out.  Even after the first crying it out session at night, I could tell she was on the right track.  From then on, her crying it out periods have gotten shorter and now almost non-existent.  Even if she wakes early from her nap, she will cry a minute or two and then go back to sleep, usually we get close to a two hour nap.  And, she has lengthened her nighttime sleep to 10.5-11.5 hours most nights.  I am so happy and I can tell Claire is too.  She is super happy after her naps and we can really enjoy the day again.  The only other thing I'll mention that I think helped is that I decided no matter how frustrated or sad I was when I got Claire up from her nap, I would walk in her room happy and ask her in a super happy voice if she had a good nap.  Sometimes I was going in her room in a bad mood if she hadn't slept long enough and I really think that fed into her being sad and not sleeping.  Now, no matter if she is crying or happy, she will have the same reaction from me.  This change has helped her snap out of a crying/bad mood fast.  I am so grateful to have my sweet Claire-bear back!

A few pictures that Grandma took while Claire was running around at the historic sites.  This was during her wonderful transitional period.  Can you hear the sarcasm in my voice about wonderful? :)  Actually, she was pretty good during their trip, except for sleeping.

Claire in awe of the grass and leaf.  She signs leaf so adorably!