Noah has always had a hard time getting to sleep, ever since he was a baby. Last week I did a little guided visualization for him. I told him to take a deep breath, get comfortable and relax, and then I said, "Your feet are marshmallows bobbing in a cup of hot chocolate. Your legs are sticks gliding along on a peaceful river. Your torso is a freshly-washed sheet floating gently down to the bed. Your arms are feathers resting on soft, warm clouds. Your whole body is floating above your bed, and you're drifting off to sleep."
That worked great the first night. The next night as I was about to leave his room at bedtime, he said, "Will you do marshmallow feet?" I had no idea what he meant, so he said, "You know, where you tell me that story about how my feet are marshmallows and everything's floating?"
So now "doing marshmallow feet" has become part of the regular bedtime routine. However, its effectiveness is wearing off, because now he's had time to think about it and ask questions. Tonight it went like this:
Me: Your feet are marshmallows bobbing in a cup of hot chocolate...
N: Doesn't the hot chocolate burn my feet?
Me: No, it's not that hot, just pleasantly warm. Anyway, your legs are sticks gliding along on a peaceful river. Your torso is a freshly-washed sheet floating gently down to the bed. Your arms are feathers resting on soft, warm clouds...
N: But clouds aren't soft or warm. Aren't they cold and wet?
Me: Well, yes, but these are special dream clouds.
N: I don't know about that.... We need to make up something about my head too. Everything's floating except my head. It's still heavy as a rock on my pillow.
I told him I'd think about it, but that he should NOT think about it and just go to sleep. I think I'll make his head a big empty balloon tomorrow night.
2 comments:
When you are finished thinking about that... try to come up with something for a 5 month old baby. I might know of one that needs some help in the sleep department! :)
I just did whatever it took to get him to sleep so that I could get some sleep too. I spent many hours lying next to him until he went to sleep in my bed. Then I would get up and try to accomplish a few things before getting in bed with him for the rest of the night. I also did lots of singing (and I am NOT a singer!), back rubbing, diaper patting, and Mike and I both logged many miles walking him around and/or driving him around until he went to sleep. It does get better when they get older!
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