My self-aware girl

We have been using a kitchen timer to help Lj with various situations. It lets me off the hook with having to remember the length of naps, special play times, time-outs, my own time on the computer etc etc. It has been very helpful, but I'm not totally confident about it at times.

Today is a classic example of it working wonders even though I'm doubting the process the whole time.

I've been putting a timer on for Layla's naps because she started to not sleep during her naps a week ago. I've been giving her an hour and a half to be quiet in her room and she can sleep if she wants or just lay there. If the timer would go off and she was still sleeping, I would surueptisously add more time (=

Today she bolted awake and came out of her room not aware if the timer had gone off or not. This is classic. She was wailing and totally distraught. She still had another 20 mins to go and I thought "man this isn't worth it. She's totally upset, she slept most of the time...I should just shut off the timer." blah blah blah

But I decided to stick to my guns and carried her back to her bed, gave her a nice long cuddle and let her be. She still wailed and wailed but eventually quieted down. When the time did go off, I walked in all excited and ready for her to press the "off" button. She stuck out her little hand and said "No mommy. Don't come in. I want some time alone." I walked right back out happy to comply. When she says she needs time alone, you'd better give it to her! I checked on her two other times and finally went back in and opened the curtains. She stuck her hand out again "No mommy. Don't see me. I'm sad. I need some time alone."
"Well Layla, if you are sad, I don't want you to be sad alone, I want to be with you!"
"No mommy. I just need some time alone."

Well okay then. She was obviously working something out. Needless to say, she eventually got up and is now happily skipping back and forth around the house with some sort of game in her head. That whole thing of "if a kid is not waking up happy, they need more sleep" really is true.

So at least today the timer thing worked out (= Parenting successes and failure are so day by day. I heard once that God made days 24 hours to give us a chance to start again. Thank goodness for that!