Change that Heart

 

True story - Ori has done this. We did not respond quite like this (more like saying the sun is not up so our son should not be up). 

Explanation: we change into day clothes when the sun is above the horizon, definitely not when it's closer to midnight than noon. 

Text:
A: What do you do when your toddler comes in your room at 3am demanding to change out of his pjs?
L: Tell him the only change happening at this hour is a change of heart.
M: Regeneration!

Sleep Sack Physics

 

Both of my kids have/had the ability to walk around nearly unimpeded by their sleep sacks (the toddler doesn't wear one anymore but she did for about two years). A sleep sack is like a nightgown that's sealed at the bottom, or a sleeping bag with armholes. They're very nice for when your kid is too small to keep a blanket on and you don't want them waking up cold at night. I don't understand how my kid walks around in one - it shouldn't work, per my mind, but it does. My daughter would walk from her room to our room in the morning like no problem here, just strutting along. Maybe this skill will help them in life somehow...

Text:
M: How did he do that - he's in a sleep sack?!?
L: He doesn't let things like physics stop him. 

Settle the Child

 

This came up because my family likes to play table top games in the evening (usually card but sometimes board). My Mark didn't get this on first read but then it connected, which means I probably need an explanation. To "settle" a child is to help them calm down, usually for a nap or bedtime but sometimes just to calm down from a freak-out. "Settlers of Catan," often abbreviated "Settlers," is a board game where you gain resources by trading or luck of the dice in order to build your settlement. Some of those resources are sheep and wheat (also ore, wood, and brick). Fun fact, the first time I played Settlers was at a year-end vacation (at Word of Life) and the deck was partially in German for some reason but the pictures were clear what they meant. 

Text:
M: Can I help you settle the toddler?
L: She needs two sheep and a wheat.
L2: *crying*

Surrender to Sleep

So apparently "giving no quarter" is forbidden under international humanitarian law, but I feel like toddlers disregard international (or just basic) humanitarian law. Giving no quarter originally meant that you were not going to house (quarter) any prisoners i.e. means you're going to kill all of your opponents. But there's a modern American take on it which just means you're going to treat someone unkindly and I feel that's the more appropriate meaning for this comic. 

We often request our little one to surrender to sleep as she valiantly fights it off. Little one, you will be in SUCH a better mood if you take a little nap. I feel like that's true for adults as well - sleep helps improve your mood when you're getting cranky, no matter your age.

Text:
L: Please surrender to sleep.
L2: *I give no quarter!*

Goto Sleep

The struggle is real.
In programming, the goto command is much maligned because it's a great way to get spaghetti code (where the logic is all tangled up and unstructured). 

Text:
M: Goto sleep
L: Evil goto!

Nap Pass

Happy belated birthday to my sister!
Some days it be like that. But there was a time recently where she refused to nap so I just let her play but then she was SUPER tired and also SUPER hungry and she was crying so hard she couldn't nurse but she was too tired to stop and it was truly a mess. Now I know what happens when she skips a nap. It was rough. (I was eventually able to calm her down enough so she could feed and immediately fall asleep.)

The phrase "hard pass" always reminds me of the TV show "Lethal Weapon" - in one episode there is a wedding of an annoying character and one of the lead characters declines by writing "hard pass" on the RSVP. 

Text:
M: Did you try putting her down for a nap?
L: Yep, it was a hard bass.
L2: *babbling*

Sleep and Cry

Sometimes it is cathartic to cry along, but really sometimes you just need to put the baby in her crib and walk away for a bit when she is inconsolable or, as one of my relatives would say, insoluble. It is nice when I can take a nap when the baby is taking a nap, but most of the time I would like to use that little window to work on projects around the house, like cleaning or drawing or any number of things that weigh on my mind as they don't get done. It is nice that she is sleeping well during the night - that makes us so much more well rested. But I am getting accustomed to segmented sleep, it seems, and I did not realize that is a divisive topic (loads of articles asking if it's good or bad). Well, I hope it's good because it's what all the new parents are doing. Can't really get around that when your kid needs food every few hours. 

Text:
W: Just remember - sleep when the baby sleeps.
M: Yep, and cry when the baby cries.

Cicada vs Circadian

I've heard it both ways?

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