I seem to be doing a lot of Waldorf/parenting posts lately. I won't lie when I say that the little one has been a little beyond difficult for a long time. Her behavior after having two different homes as gone down hill month after month. It's a lot for a little one and she's been reacting by regressing, getting really bossy, controlling, and downright bratty, and it is all-in-all very exhausting. Sasa and I have been working hard at coming up with a plan to make her time in the "Blue House" much more comfortable and reliable. Three weeks ago we came up with a daily plan and a weekly rhythm. We put in a lot of work; reading books, mapping out daily rhythms and activities, and basically starting our own little home school. I told Sasa I thought this would really work, and he agreed. And now we are so sure it is indeed working...quite well! So most of my energy is going into keeping this rhythm alive, which means nightly and daily planning and requiring most of my space. All of this is very good, and hopefully others out there will benefit from what I've learned as well!
First off, she has been co-sleeping up until now. And let me tell you...she is a horizontal sleeper :: feet in Sasa's back and head on my stomach. She wakes up spontaneously patting Sasa's back or squeezing my hand. She flips upside down and sticks her feet in my face and grabs onto Sasa's leg. She kicks, she wiggles, she despises covers (I am someone who likes to sleep in a cocoon!) and she is a pretty darn light sleeper. This makes night times hard. I finally had enough, and even though we've tried and tried before, I was determined to make this try last. So enter the sleep fairies. These sleep fairies came and whispered in Mama's and Sasa's ear that if the little one slept in her own bed, she would wake up to a surprise in the morning.
We then passed on the message to the little one and she agreed to sleep in her bed, which is pushed right up against ours still! I guess this is phase one...The sleepy fairies then came to us the next night and said to make a special sleep chart and have a special tray ready to hold a surprise for the morning on our bed stand. So we made a sleep chart, placing a star in a box after a full night is spent in her bed. We placed a beloved bird tray on our bedside table for the fairies. In the morning the sleep fairies had left a note and a special little gift. The little one was very pleased and put a purple star in the next box. And now? She's asleep in her own bed, waiting for the sleep fairies to come again. We're hoping to get a couple of weeks out of her until the sleep fairies say there is no need to visit anymore because she is doing such a great job. But I'm stocking up on special treats, yummy apples, pine cones, and pretty leaves for surprises until it's over!
And it was our baking day today. I decided to draw up a recipe card for each recipe we make that is a success. These will be filed in her own little box. I put the name of the recipe, a small picture for the little one to recognize, and the name and page number of the book it came out of. The night before baking day I place all the ingredients out pre-measured. The ingredients are covered and the recipe card is placed on top. We had breakfast made and our baking finished before it was 9 a.m. today.What a success!
The "almond butter thumbprint cookies" were a hit. We brought a batch to the construction workers working on our street (poor guys were working in the snow!) and a batch to our favorite peeps at the bookshop. It was a sweet morning filled with yummy cookies and friendly people. Doesn't get any better than that!!
I hope you all enjoyed your Thursday!!!
