Dad on the Rise

Posts Tagged ‘Adjustments’

The Tornado used to be on such a strict schedule when it came to sleeping. She was in bed every night by 6:30 pm, if not earlier. She was up at 6:00 am in the morning with a nap around 10:30 am. This schedule came about because my wife was working in the morning and need to be driven to work at 7:00 am. I worked nights and my wife, a school teacher, needed time at night to grade and/or lesson plan so Tornado needed to sleep in the evening. It worked like a well oiled machine. Now that my wife is home on leave the Tornado’s sleep schedule has changed dramatically.

The early stages of the change seemed a little bumpy. The Tornado is going to bed closer to 8:00 pm and sometimes even later. For a short time she seemed to wake up at midnight and then back to sleep at 1:00 am and she would sleep until about 7:00 am. She napped around 1:00 pm. This new schedule made the Tornado a little groggy and cranky. She was going to bed later mainly because we are more active now as a family as we have three days off together a week as opposed to the one day we shared when wifey was working. (Did I mention I only work 4 days a week, I know you’re jealous.) So, with the extra time together we seem to go out more and entertain in the home more. We were pretty apprehensive to continue with this new sleep schedule, but in the long run it isn’t too bad.

The Tornado seems to have adapted to the new schedule quite nicely. She now goes to bed between 8:30 pm and 9:00 pm. Normally, she will sleep through the night, though when she does wake up late it is only for a short time. Here’s the best part, in the morning she wakes up at 9:00 am or later. This is ideal for our household as I get home from work around 1:00 am and my wife is a night owl trying to get her web design business off the ground and often goes to bed after 3:00 am. This new schedule is great. The Tornado is no longer tired when she wakes up, nor is she moody. We all get plenty of sleep, much more than we used to and there are no more arguments about who will get up with the little one. We naturally seem to trade off as one of us seems to be ready to get up when we hear her.

The Tornado still gets a nap during the day, normally early afternoon, and everything seems great. Believe it or not, the whole household seems to be happier. All this and we, and when I say we I mean my wife, weaned the Tornado off of the bottle too.

We are on the brink of a milestone with the Tornado. We keep hearing from everyone that it is time to potty train and we have started and stopped a couple of times. I personally think the Tornado is not quite ready. My wife is torn as she is the one who keeps getting pressured from other moms. The worst part is that potty training scares us both and we just don’t know how to proceed.

I feel that she is not ready, but really close, because the Tornado tells us after she goes, but not yet before. I think that we should hold off until she can tell us when she needs to go. Now all she does is run to the potty all the time and sits on it thinking it is a toy. She even brings a book with her to read, wonder where she gets that from? She is great in telling us when she is done, though pooped means both number 1 and 2. She even has some tells like she squats when taking a dump, but if we aren’t paying attention she would just be going in her pants. Give her 2 months or so and she will be good to go.

Would love to hear other points of view so let me know what you think.

Believe it or not, but the end of summer is actually a very exciting time this year.  My wife is a high school teacher in the New York City Public School System and she is taking a leave of absence for the upcoming school year.  This move fills us with both excitement and anxiety.

First, my wife cannot wait to spend extra time with the Tornado.  The Tornado was spending about 30 hours a week with a babysitter.  Though our babysitter was wonderful, nobody beats mom.  Second, we save quite a bit of money from day care and my wife has a driver bring her home at night as she doesn’t drive and I work nights.  So the money we save is going to be substantial.

Now for the major negative.  I am the primary bread winner now and let me tell you this is where the anxiety comes into play.  Though, daycare and my wife’s travel expenses were high we still had some extra money left from her check.

The good news is that my wife will be working a couple days a week at her school maintaining the web site she designed.  Unfortunately, when dealing with NYC Department of Education nothing is guaranteed.  Also, my wife is trying to get her web design business off the ground and I am very confident that she will be making money very soon as she is talented.  Checkout Mom on the Rise (shameless plug) for a sample of her work and Designs by Kristina Brooke to view her portfolio and inquire about her services.

For the next year we will be doing our best to stick to a budget and I will be trying for all the overtime I can possibly get.  Also, since my wife will be taking the year off anyway, we may be working on baby number two.  Though, we are only having preliminary discussions and are not doing anything drastic just yet.