Wake Up Jeff (Or Go To Sleep Eden)

Eden is a serious Wiggles fanatic right now. We went through a Wiggles phase about a year ago, then it kind of died down, but now it is back in full force thanks to Auntie Lisa in California and the infamous (at least in our house) "Wiggle Book."

Ask Eden any time of the day or night what she wants to watch, and she will say "Wiggles." Most often she chooses "Wiggle Mooby" (Movie), but sometimes she will choose "Yummy, Yummy" or "Wiggle Day" (Bay).

Eden has decided that she IS Jeff. We hear this many times a day. "I Jeff." Then she will point to us one by one to tell us who we are. Daddy is "Wags Dog." Holland is "Dorothy." And I am "Greg."

And if you know The Wiggles, you know Jeff. Jeff is ALWAYS falling asleep.


One, Two, Three...Wake Up Jeff!


"I awake Moo-ey." (That's Eden's version of Murray...sort of.)


The really ironic thing, is that given how much Jeff likes sleeping, Eden does not. About a month ago Eden decided that she really doesn't like going to bed at night. It has been such a pain, and has caused a great deal of stress in our household. After TWO YEARS of being an absolute angel at bedtime, she has completely turned the tables on us.

Thinking back, I guess it got gradually worse. She started waking a couple of hours after she went to bed, and I would go in a pick her up, rock her or hold her for a few minutes and put her back down. Then she wanted to rock for a while before going to bed. Then the rocking got longer and we got more and more resistance to going back to bed. She would wake up saying "Hey Mama" or "Hey Dada" repeatedly, then sometimes "I scared" which she KNOWS will always get us running. The we worried ourselves silly over whether she really IS scared...maybe she is afraid of the dark...maybe she is in pain...maybe it's reflux...and on and on and on. She still isn't able to verbalize exactly what it is that is bothering her, so we are left guessing the worst.

Then she got sick, and all Hell broke loose. Total meltdowns at bedtime, with a great deal of breath-holding, and the ultimate in GETTING YOU WHAT YOU WANT...vomiting. We started getting breath-holding, followed by big vomits every time we laid her in her bed. And she was sick, so we broke down and did it. We let her sleep in OUR BED.

The thing with Eden is that it ONLY TAKES ONCE. She is a quick study and as soon as she connects that vomiting leads to sleeping with mom and dad, she will soon be vomiting every night.

We came up with a game plan, that we put into place two days after she got home from the hospital. The plan was that she HAD to sleep in her bed, even if it meant we slept in her bedroom on the floor. We took turns putting her to bed and lying on her floor until she fell asleep, then we took shifts during the night. Turns out that she really wants company and IF you can get her in her bed without a vomit, she will be okay as long as someone stays in the room with her.

We had a massive vomit on Friday night (on my shift dammit), but each night since then has gotten progressively better. We've gone from an hour of "I don't wanna go bed" over and over again, to a few whimpers for 5 or 10 minutes before falling asleep. And for the past 2 nights we have had no night wakings! I feel sane again...for now. I just hope it will last.

We decided in the interim to make the move to BIG GIRL BEDS (BGB). We bought them last weekend at IKEA, and will hopefully get them together this weekend. Tonight they got their new pillowcases, Holland got Dora, and Eden got the Disney Princesses (their choices in shoes, hats, and now bedding). I had planned on waiting until kindergarten for the BGB, but since Eden hates her crib so much, I thought we may as well make the move now. I am very resistant overall to them growing up, but somehow it is happening anyway!


Hard to believe that someone so darn cute can cause so much drama!