Don is on his way to Florida. That's right, Florida. He's attending a meeting of the Blue Goose Alliance, a group of retired National Wildlife Refuge System employees. They latched onto him soon after he retired last year and are eager for his input on their projects.
I knew I shouldn't have declared our sleep problems behind us in a recent post. They're back with a vengeance. For some reason, Sarah has decided that she can't be separated from us for sleep. Since Thursday evening, she has cried hysterically and relentlessly at bedtime, naptime, and periodically through the night.
This is crying like we've never heard from her before -- screaming and wailing is a more accurate description. It's heartwrenching. We've tried letting her go, but she will keep at it for 30 - 40 minutes. Of course, the adoption doctor has told us to hold the line and not go in, and certainly don't pick her up. Yeah, right.
Of course, I've analyzed and re-analyzed the events of the last few days to figure out what triggered this. No matter how you look at it, she has been cheerful and content, in the extreme. Squeals of joy and peals of laughter are the rule.
The only theory I've come up with is that she has taken yet another step forward in attachment and is afraid we might leave. Perhaps she is now as attached to us as she was to her foster mom and is afraid of losing us the way she lost her. The poor little thing is terrified of something (or at least very good at acting so). Since we know little of her year of life before us and she's not yet verbal, all we can do is guess what might be going on in her head. It's frustrating.
Before he left this morning, Don set up the twin bed in Sarah's room again. If worse comes to worse, I'll sleep in there, at least while Don's gone. It's the only chance I have of getting any sleep, if this continues. Maybe she just needs to work through some emotional baggage, and things will return to "normal."
I lucked out at naptime today. She was nodding off in her highchair at lunch, so I quickly scooped her up and gave her her sippy cup of milk. She fell asleep in my arms and stayed that way as I put her in the crib. Big sigh of relief!!
Sleep trauma aside, Sarah is progressing every day. She now walks everywhere and is quite confident about it. Her favorite thing is to walk down the hallway with Cadi behind her. For some reason, it cracks her up every time. She walked outside for the first time on Friday. Until then, it hadn't occurred to me that she'd only been on a level surface. She took off down the sidewalk from the garage toward the barn and came to a screeching halt when she hit the slight downgrade. The little things we take for granted....
She is vocalizing a lot now and has "words" for dog, squirrel, snack, hawk, elephant, and "Signing Time." She has started to mimic words when we read to her. She will point to things in the pictures and ask what they are. If it's something she hasn't heard before, she'll turn to watch my lips as I say it again. She's a serious student!
This afternoon's plan is a little mall-walking to wear her out. She loves getting out to see people. And she now loves the car! I guess she's made the connection. She asks to go in the car and is more than happy to sit on her throne in the backseat and demand food, drink, and music. It's good to be queen!
Sarah and I are on our own for three days...for the first time. A week ago, I would have said it would be easily manageable, but the last few days have changed that.
I knew I shouldn't have declared our sleep problems behind us in a recent post. They're back with a vengeance. For some reason, Sarah has decided that she can't be separated from us for sleep. Since Thursday evening, she has cried hysterically and relentlessly at bedtime, naptime, and periodically through the night.
This is crying like we've never heard from her before -- screaming and wailing is a more accurate description. It's heartwrenching. We've tried letting her go, but she will keep at it for 30 - 40 minutes. Of course, the adoption doctor has told us to hold the line and not go in, and certainly don't pick her up. Yeah, right.
We're trying to balance being nurturing with maintaining her sleep routine. It's hard, though. Early this morning, we tried once again bringing her to our bed to sleep, but it was just as successful as in the past -- not at all. She's very happy to be there, but sleep is the furthest thing from her mind.
Of course, I've analyzed and re-analyzed the events of the last few days to figure out what triggered this. No matter how you look at it, she has been cheerful and content, in the extreme. Squeals of joy and peals of laughter are the rule.
The only theory I've come up with is that she has taken yet another step forward in attachment and is afraid we might leave. Perhaps she is now as attached to us as she was to her foster mom and is afraid of losing us the way she lost her. The poor little thing is terrified of something (or at least very good at acting so). Since we know little of her year of life before us and she's not yet verbal, all we can do is guess what might be going on in her head. It's frustrating.
Before he left this morning, Don set up the twin bed in Sarah's room again. If worse comes to worse, I'll sleep in there, at least while Don's gone. It's the only chance I have of getting any sleep, if this continues. Maybe she just needs to work through some emotional baggage, and things will return to "normal."
I lucked out at naptime today. She was nodding off in her highchair at lunch, so I quickly scooped her up and gave her her sippy cup of milk. She fell asleep in my arms and stayed that way as I put her in the crib. Big sigh of relief!!
Sleep trauma aside, Sarah is progressing every day. She now walks everywhere and is quite confident about it. Her favorite thing is to walk down the hallway with Cadi behind her. For some reason, it cracks her up every time. She walked outside for the first time on Friday. Until then, it hadn't occurred to me that she'd only been on a level surface. She took off down the sidewalk from the garage toward the barn and came to a screeching halt when she hit the slight downgrade. The little things we take for granted....
She is vocalizing a lot now and has "words" for dog, squirrel, snack, hawk, elephant, and "Signing Time." She has started to mimic words when we read to her. She will point to things in the pictures and ask what they are. If it's something she hasn't heard before, she'll turn to watch my lips as I say it again. She's a serious student!
This afternoon's plan is a little mall-walking to wear her out. She loves getting out to see people. And she now loves the car! I guess she's made the connection. She asks to go in the car and is more than happy to sit on her throne in the backseat and demand food, drink, and music. It's good to be queen!
Here's a shot I took of the two us to send to Don's hotel for check-in today:
Lauri,
ReplyDeleteAllie has started to have some sleep issues as well. She will wake twice during the night and just cry out. Todd will go in and rock her back to sleep without any problem. She is wide awake at 6am no matter what time she goes to bed. Her schedule was 7pm to 7am but that has certainly changed.
I agree with you in that what ever my baby needs to comfort her, I'm gonna give her!! I think Sarah has come so far and I think this is just another phase in her attaching to you.
Keep up the good work! No sleep is so hard but will be a distant memory once Sarah is older. I was looking at pictures of the boys yesterday when they were toddlers and it's so hard to believe they are 14 and 11. It goes by so quickly.
Take care!! I loved the video!
Tara