Comments on: Strategi-mom

By: Leslie

Leslie — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 13:39:01 +0000

I so hear this. I just spent a week of long-awaited vacation that was an utter flop with my 15-month old. You wait and wait for vacation time and the anticipation of a golden holiday, baby happily in tow, was clearly too utopian to be real. She refused to sleep or nap anywhere except in her own bed, i.e. she would not sleep during the vacation, and when she wasn’t fighting the “foreign” crib (her cousin’s), she was clinging to me like a particularly unappealing creeper vine. New plans for summer vacation – vacation time will consist of short excursions only – and maybe Mommy will nap, too.

By: sugarmama

sugarmama — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 17:10:42 +0000

Like you, I’m a strategi-mom. With my firstborn, I was walking around with people around me fearing the wrath of my whip when they don’t follow the schedule I wanted the family to conform to…haha.

With my second child — I can’t even find my whip because I didn’t even have time to draw out a schedule when all I did was run after a toddler while pacifying a newborn with my breast.

But, I can tell you — now that my firstborn is 7 years old…he is so much better on taking sleeps and naps on time compared to now 4 year old.

Now with my 3rd child — I’ve brought the dusty whip out from the closet and everyone has been warned. lol

By: Emily

Emily — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 13:41:57 +0000

Super post! It summed up everything moms feel on a daily basis about schedules and the fears we have of taking our little ones in public around nap time. My husband and I will be taking our 10-month old (she will be in July) to North Carolina via plane for one week at the end of July. Not only I am worried about entertaining her on the go for a week, but we will also be attending a wedding, late wedding reception (hope she can fall asleep to “Baby Got Back”) and long days on the beach. I have nightmares about how all of this will go, but I suppose I need to follow the cliche and “go with the flow.” Damn flow.

By: Working Mom

Working Mom — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 21:23:07 +0000

You are singing my song! In fact, I blogged about this very topic a few weeks ago. I was so upset that Boy would not fall asleep one night, he just wanted to play. I wanted him to go to sleep. Needless to say, I lost this one. And I realized very clearly, there is no way on Earth you can be rigid with a small child. I hate being loosey goosey, makes me bananas, but with Boy, he forces you to “roll with it”, which, honestly is not my area. Love you blog and what a great post.

By: Nuclear Mom

Nuclear Mom — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 20:09:48 +0000

Wow, I could have written that. My son is now nearly three and making a hard attempt to give up his naps. This kills me. And the conversation with the husband about “maybe” he will fall asleep here or there this time? So been there.

Neat blog!

By: Shannon

Shannon — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 14:19:01 +0000

I could really relate to this. I have a three-month-old son,
and I think what makes babies so challenging is that they are just
so unpredictable. When my son was two weeks old, we put him in
a vibrating chair, and he fell asleep instantly. I figured all
our problems were solved. Guess what? That dang chair has never
gotten him to sleep again. Then for awhile the pacifier was our
best friend, and one day he just stopped wanting it.

And then just when you completely write off a particular technique
as useless, the next day it works again. Then it never works again after
that.

My kid usually won’t sleep anywhere but the crib either. I’m so
jealous of people at restaurants and stores who have babies that just
lie there sleeping peacefully. (And, by the way, this seems like every
kid but mine.)

By: Debbie

Debbie — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 12:46:53 +0000

Very interesting. I’m really the opposite…I hate schedules for my kids. Now for me, I do like routines, but not for the kids…go figure. I think it started when hubby and I decided that having kids would not change our lives so much that we didn’t do things we normally did anymore. So naps – we made due…even with my son, who sounds like yours. He will only sleep in his bed (or car or stroller if really tired). But on Father’s Day last year we took hubby and my dad to a Cleveland Indians game and I spent most of the game walking around with him in the stroller around the ballpark. But I didn’t mind, because hubby and my dad were having a great time.

But you’re right when you say that no matter what, if you’re scheduled-based or extremely laid back, things are going to pop out of nowhere and surprise you. You just can’t plan motherhood!