21stcenturyhousewife

In my last post I said I would write about the fun new bedtime game my son and I invented.  Well fun for him anyway, for me not so much!  As many parents and people in general know putting a toddler to bed takes some time.  Luckily my little guy likes going to bed when he is tired so there isn’t the problem of him fighting it at all.  Still there is the clean up, story time, bath, pajamas, brushing the teeth, etc.  Even without any fighting it can still take an hour or better to complete the bedtime ritual.  So while the new “game” only adds only a few extra minutes and a bit more energy, its time and energy I no longer possess at the end of the day .

After graduating from infant to young toddler I still did not put my son to bed with anything other then blankets.  He pretty much had three blankets so he had one to lie on, one to snuggle with and one to cover him up.  There was still no pillow or stuffed animals or anything of that sort.  I think even though he was old enough and it was now safe to give him a pillow and stuffed animal at night, being a first time mom I continued to view it as safer to not have these items in his crib.  Yes I recognize and fully admit I’m a slightly over cautious new mom, so I’m on the first steps to recovery. 

Well when my son began gnawing on his crib I decided a couple teething toys were safe and possibly a good solution to his chewing issues.  So I put 2-3 small teething type toys in his crib for him at night.  They were not teething rings because of course I thought if he bit through one that could be a problem (that over cautious thinking again!).  My idea did not work though, he still preferred to chew his crib and every time I went to get him in the morning or after a nap the toys were on the floor by his crib.  It became apparent he didn’t have a general chewing obsession but a specific desire to chew his crib.  After a few days I gave up and decided to not bother putting the teething toys in bed with him anymore.

Well the first time I didn’t put the toys in his crib he refused to go to sleep.  He cried and screamed and did not quiet down at all.  I went to check on him and he was reaching towards the toys.  I realized what the problem was and put them in his crib.  I didn’t understand it at all because he didn’t use them at all and always threw them out of the crib at some point before I arrived to get him out after he woke up.  Nevertheless once I put the toys in his crib he was quiet and went right to sleep.

Okay so I guess I had created a new obsession while doing nothing to remedy the current chewing issue we were already dealing with.  Way to go mom!  Not a real big deal though, so he wanted a couple toys in his crib at night.  Most kids need a blanket and stuffed animal or two in order to sleep at night right?

So we started out with 3 blankets and 2-3 toys.  This satisfied him for a little while, but soon he wanted more.  The first addition was a stuffed dog that sang and lit up.  I didn’t really like the idea of an actual stuffed animal being in his crib, but he was well past the age of it being a safety issue.  Plus he was very persistent about the fact that he would not sleep without it.  He was content for a while, but every so often he wanted another toy or another blanket.  His requests were very specific too. 

I would pick up the current bedtime collection from the floor and place them all back in his crib.  The nights he was satisfied that he had everything he needed he would lie quietly in his crib and go to sleep.  On the nights he felt he needed a new addition to his assortment he would stand up, reach out towards something and cry.  I would pick a toy from the shelf, floor, toy box or general location he was reaching towards.  Each time I picked the wrong item he would shake his head, scream no and continue to reach and cry out.  Once I had the correct desired item in hand he would smile and giggle.  As soon as I would hand it to him he would place it in the pile with the rest of the group and settle in for a restful sleep.

Soon we had numerous blankets, stuffed animals and a couple teething toys.  He began to use a blanket or stuffed animal as a pillow so I figured it was time to squash my fear and accept he was old enough and ready for a pillow.  He has a stuffed hippo that could be unfolded and laid open as a pillow, so that was placed in his crib and he enjoyed using it as a pillow.  He soon began to request inappropriate bedtime toys.  He wanted larger, regular toys like some of his vehicles and that toy with the shapes you have to fit into the correct shaped holes.  We had quite a little battle over these demands because I had to put my foot down and not allow certain toys to be “bedtime toys.”  I ended up giving in on one small train, but that was it!

He currently does not request new additions too much anymore.  I don’t know if he is finally pleased with what he has or if he is just running out of room to put anymore in his crib.  He now has 8 blankets, his stuffed animal pillow and 17 toys (various teething toys, stuffed animals and the train).  Every morning and after every nap these items are on the floor.  He has even become quite good at throwing them across the room and into toy boxes or even onto a shelf.  Every afternoon at nap time and every night at bedtime I must round up every item and toss them into his crib.  The pillow of course goes up at one end for him to lie on.  He also requires a blanket to cover up with, a blanket to snuggle and his three Elmo toys to be by him.  The rest of the blankets and toys are just in a big pile at the other end of his crib. 

I use to put each item into the crib one by one to ensure we had everything.  Now with such a large collection I just toss it all in and look around to make sure I didn’t miss anything.  If for some reason I do miss something, even one small thing, he will let me know immediately.  If something is between the crib and the wall he knows and reaches for it.  If something landed in the toy box and fell in between other toys to the bottom he will reach towards the toy box and send me on a fishing expedition to dig through everything and locate the missing item.  How he can even tell when something is missing from such a huge pile of blankets and toys is a mystery, but he can and he will not sleep until every single item is in his crib.

Is this at all normal?  Has anyone else experienced anything similar with their child?  I know my son has a lot of strange qualities, which of course were inherited from his father, but surely he can not be the only child with this weird fixation.

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