Fallout!

Wow, so we are now offically dealing with the fallout from vacation. (We arrived home safely by the way - very late, very tired, but safe) All of the laundry has been done (thanks to my wonderful hubby!) but there is still tons to put away. Instead of continuing to unpack and set things to rights I figured I would do what I normally do when trying to avoid responsibility....I'll blog.

The house may be on it's way to being set to rights, but the occupants are not. We are dealing with the concequences of taking an extended vacation - busy at work and a 4-year-old who is not readjusting. Mackenzie has decided that she would prefer to continue sleeping wherever we are instead of in her big girl bed. I can understand why she has come to this decision but what I have not figured out is the best way to ease her back into her routine. We are trying to stay strong and maintain the sleep-in-your-own-bed-at-home guidelines but that did not prevent me from waking up with a kid curled up at my feet like a puppy this morning. Tonight was even worse. She refused to allow daddy to put her to bed and had an all out fit when he had to carry her to her room.

I know that I need to continue to stay strong, but it is difficult in the face of this radically different behavior. (We may have tantrums but very rarely if ever have we had the hysterics that we had tonight.) Anyway, what I tried tonight (after we finally got her into bed and calmed down) was tucking her in then setting the kitchen timer for 5 mins at which point I went back to check on her. Cuddled for a bit then back out and timer again at which point she was asleep. I think it worked for tonight and hopefully will hold out for tomorrow as well.

My question is this: Moms (and Dads) how do you handle bedtime tantrums?

Can't wait to read your advice!

~Jeny