Camels, straws, and bad backs

Daddy P and I are about to topple from the struggle with toddler emotions. I have been pretty much totally gone from family life these past two weeks between being busy at work and studying for my licensing exam. As a result, Kate's been thrown into a babysitting upheaval and has clung to Daddy P with desperation. She screams when separated from him now. If I try to hug or kiss him she cries and pushes me away, grabbing for him. She screams for hours at bedtime when he leaves her, and naps have also gotten more difficult. Daddy P got all of 3 hours sleep last night, and I managed another 1.5 hours thanks to his kindness, but we're both a bit out of it today.

Our skin crawls at the naptime hour as we brace ourselves for the fight. Kate is so adverse to nap and sleep that she cries in the middle of books now, anticipating the end. Last night the only way we got her to sleep was to have Daddy P pretend to "go to work" so that I put her down because she couldn't stand to be away from him in her bedroom. It was still a rough time getting her down, but not as bad since she's pretty much given up on me. (sniff)

I really fooled myself into thinking that we had a good night-sleeper. All is subject to change. The joy and pain of the world.

Well, back to studying. If anyone has any separation anxiety/bedtime tips I'm taking them. Crying it out isn't working as she has successfully outlasted us. Trying to sleep with her leads to her playing and poking us for two hours. So basically, it feels like nothing works. What we know is that we need to get her back into a consistent routine. Our little darling needs routine and predictability and unfortunately that hasn't happened much in the past few weeks. She's had different people putting her down at different times with different styles more than usual and I think all the variety is causing her to be a little more stubborn and a little more overwhelmed than usual. Unfortunately, we can't really make many changes until the exam is over and I can get back in the swing of family life.

So, send happy thoughts to Daddy P. He's a real trooper, a dedicated husband, and a dad who's putting it all on the line right now. Thank you, Daddy P!