Toddler woes...

So I thought I'd put in a quick update on my toddler while both, YES BOTH, kids are napping. Don't feel too special that you are getting this precious time. I already drank an uninterrupted cup of CAFFEINATED coffee and read a few chapters of my book. (Living the cross centered life- HIGHLY recommend)

My kids have been doing great for the last few weeks, aside from the normal kid hiccups that come no matter what. We were in a groove. Blakey was sleeping consistently- never as much as we'd like, but we've gotten over that. Henry was starting to nap longer. Blakely was eating. Etc. Then Stephens parents came to visit this past weekend. It was a lot of fun. Out of nowhere Blakely decides she is over the whole going to bed peacefully thing. I mean, for a solid 6-7 months we did nothing but tell her it was time for bed, walk her in, sing her a few songs and we were out and so was she. And I mean OUT OF NOWHERE the demon child emerged. I'm talking standing, screaming, DEATH screaming (if you know what I mean?!) jumping, banging her head and hands on the wall and crib, throwing herself down, etc. Scary stuff. She was also getting ip early (even for her...4o'clock hour..) and flipping out when Stephen wouldn't get her up. Yesterday she got up at 4:45, Stephen told her she couldn't get up, so she screamed a bit, then sat there until 5:30. She is so stubborn. We were at a total loss of what to do. We tried spanking, ignoring, consoling, pleading, bribing, and nothing was working. Several times she fell asleep sitting up and luckily eventually fell over. It was so miserable that i am really surprised it was only like 4-5 days of it, cause it feels like it was going on for months. Anyway...yesterday I decided to reason with her. Blakely always turns out to be smarter and get a lot more than I give her credit for (and I give her a lot of credit). So I laid her down like usual, and on cue as soon as I closed the door she was up and screaming. So I went straight back in and decided I was going to talk to her like she was 15 instead of 2. So anyway I was like,
"what in the world is wrong with you?" Silence and staring. "Why are you crying and screaming? Are you hurt? Dying? Another type of emergency I am unaware of (paraphrased obv...)" blank stares. "You have GOT to quit this. You are taking a nap no matter what kind of fit you throw, so you may as well lay down and quit crying. Talk to your animals, sing, do whatever you have to do, but I know you can be a big girl and go to sleep without a fit because you've done it hundreds of times before. So I'm going to leave now and you need to get it together and chill."

Something clicked for her and she went to sleep. I discussed it with her again before bed and told her she could be a big girl again. She threw her fit like normal, but I got in there before she could even launch her baby across the room (which generally happens within the first 20 seconds...) and reasoned with her exactly the same as I'd done for her nap. And finally, today, she went down and I didn't even have to go in once. We are praying that her little phase is over.

She is still getting up entirely too early. (We get excited if she sleeps past 5:30) and she is really testing her limits. Some days we feel like we don't have to discipline her at all, and other days we wonder what we are doing wrong cause she spends most of the day in time out and gets multiple spankings. But I am trusting God that he is developing a heart for him in her, and that one day we won't HAVE to discipline her. She sure is strong willed.

We started doing family memory verse together last week. We decided that we only wanted positive associations with God's word so if she didn't want to do it, we would never make her. She NEVER wanted to go over it with us, so me and Stephen would just say it out loud one phrase at a time. Then one day we were saying it and she said the whole thing. She is so smart and I am so convinced that she hears EVERYTHING we say. Our verse was: "Give thanks to The Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever." Psalm 136:1. I don't want scripture to ever feel like a drudgery to her, but why not take advantage of a toddlers incredible ability to memorize things and help her hide God's word in her heart before it is filled with other things. Not to mention it keeps me accountable to memorize God's word. And if my 2 year old can memorize a verse in a week, I ought to be able to as well.

I have many more things to update about with Blakely but it will have to wait! Here are some pictures of my sweetie!