A few more details...

Alright, I'll give a little more explanation, but only because I'm SURE the rest of your life would have to remain on pause until I did.

The weighted blanket is not a huge hit at night... though he does love to cuddle with it during cartoon time (yep, we have cartoon time. He watches a cartoon while I fix lunch and I feel absolutely no guilt about it). I'm going to try reducing the weight a little, since it feels a little on the heavy side, and my scale is notorious for lying (it really is rude, and I've threatened it with replacing it with one of those sleek, little smooth-talking digital models. It usually pouts for a few days, but then resumes its naughty little tricks!).

Anyway, for those of you who want to know, which I assume is everyone (including those who don't follow this blog, but just know there is someone of my awesomeness caliber out there with all the answers they have been seeking), I will give you a breif discription of how I made this blanket.

The general guidelines for a weighted blanket include that it must be big enough to fully cover the child, and the weight should equal 10% of the child's weight +1 pound. So, I happened to have two matching blankets (thanks grandma!!!) that are the fleece throw type you can buy for fairly cheap around the holidays. I used these since they were the right size and already had finished edges.

So, first I cut 15 squares out of some scrap material (I believe it used to be a sheet). The size needs to be determined by the size of your blanket, as the squares need to be spread evenly over the fabric, with a little extra room on all sides. I then cut strips of velcro and sewed them onto one side of each square.

Next, I sewed strips of the other side of the velcro onto the blanket. I then attached the squares to the velcro on the blanet, and sewed around the three loose sides of each square. This made the inside of the blanket look like this:

Then I simply sewed a long strip of velcro on the top of this blanket, and the opposite side of the velcro on the top of the matching blanket. I pressed the velcro together, and sewed the two blankets together on the three open sides.

So, the blanket opens at the top by peeling apart the velcro (I reccommend using very heavy duty velcro), and inside are pockets that are also held closed with velcro.

I then measured out 5lbs of rice and seperated it equally into 15 ziploc baggies. I taped them shut (duct tape) and put one in each pocket inside the blanket. This allows you to take out the rice (or beans, wheat, or whatever) to wash the blanket

(And yes, yours will lay funny, too... it's just the weight of the rice.)

A few notes:

I would make the squares bigger than I did to give the rice a little more room to move and lay evenly.

This can be made with poly-whateveryoucallit beads (like they use for heavier stuffed animals), and sewen in channels instead of pockets. If you use these beads, you can just toss the whole thing in the washer and dryer. However, these materials are quite expensive, and I was determined to just use what I had (I'll detail my frugal quest in another post).

So, that's how it's done! Like I said, we will continue to play with the weight, because I really am convinced it could help my little stinker!

And the result is....

HE HATES IT!!!

Sleep Solution #593

I have a secret.




My son doesn't sleep through the night most nights.


There, I said it!!!

For a long time, I seriously thought it was just my parenting. When I mentioned it at his appointments, the doctors would just tell me I had to be better about a routine. I became a fanatic. It didn't work. I searched the web, and tried adding new things and taking things out of our routine. It didn't work. I became obsessed with watching everything that went into his mouth. It didn't matter... he still rarely slept through the night. I thought I was alone in this, and quietly nursed my shame at my inability to get my child to sleep like a normal person. Then I stumbled upon a discussion thread and found hundreds of parents like me, dealing with children who just wouldn't sleep. I found lots of ideas, some of which have helped improve our situation. However, there is one more we are trying for the first time tonight.

For anyone else dealing with this seemingly shameful issue, let me share what HAS made a difference after 2 years of battling this problem.

Nightlights- he picked them out, and they help him feel safe when he wakes up at night
Keeping the door open- we keep the door open until he falls asleep. He knows we're right there if he needs something.
Daylight Rule- We have established that if it is light outside, he may come snuggle with me. This way he knows that he is allowed that time, but Mommy doesn't have to fight little feet in her back all night.

There were lots of other suggestions we've tried as well. He has a "bedtime chart" that has pictures of what he needs to do that are turned over as he accomplishes them, and he REALLY likes it. However, the bedtime process has never been an issue. He just has a hard time falling to sleep (lots of tossing and turning... sometimes for 2 hours). Then he doesn't stay asleep. He usually wakes up after about 3 hours or so, and then has the problem of falling back to sleep again. I've finally accepted that this is just how he is, and that it's not my fault! While it's great to feel that relief, we still have to deal with his problem. I seriously wouldn't care if he just stayed in his room and played quietly, but he's also a little afraid of the dark. The nightlights keep him from screaming to wake us, but he does get up and wander around, sometimes deciding that watching cartoons would be a good idea.

Anyway, I read a post from a mother who tried a weighted blanket because her son was so "fidgety" at night. What she was describing sounded exactly like Wyatt! He is definitely a sensory seeking child, and so a little constant deep tissue pressure may help him. I felt a little dumb for not thinking of it sooner, as this type of therapy is something I've used in classrooms, but it's usually restricted to children diagnosed with disorders. Wyatt doesn't have a sensory disorder, but he does have behaviors that are indicative of sensory seeking. So, why wouldn't this work?!

I did some research about how weighted blankets are made, and found some suggestions for making your own. The retail price for a child's blanket is over $100. That's not happening. So, I made my own! Tonight will be the first night with it, so I'm crossing my fingers it will help. I don't expect it to be a miracle blanket, but anything that will improve his sleeping is appreciated! When I've got another minute, I'll post more details about how I made it, etc. I was just so excited about the possibility with this, that I just had to share!

Family Home Evening

Let me start by saying I am not huge on New Year's Resolutions. I only make one or two, in an attempt to actually accomplish them. I also usually don't make them until a few weeks into the new year... I figure I have a better feel for the year by then! :) Anyway, I decided that this year I wanted to do better (much better) at having family home evening. Prior to this, I felt like it was kind of a waste... Wyatt was so young, he didn't understand, blah, blah, blah. However, I realized, much to my dismay, that he will soon be three and is quite capable of gleaning something from FHE.

So, tonight was week #3 for us. We decided to do Noah's Ark as our topic. Let me interrupt to explain that FHE in this house is NOT the formal event it is for many. The cute little charts that keep track of what each person is in charge of (prayer, song, lesson, treats, etc.) quite honestly make me want to puke. If that works for you, great! I need things to be a little lower key. We say a prayer, and then usually do an object lesson. I'm all for object lessons that create the treat we are going to eat as well!!! The more simple, the better! We sing as we mix up the treats, and call it GOOD!

Ok, back to Noah's ark. We pulled out one of Wyatt's story books he is familiar with, and opened the scriptures to the story of Noah. We started with the story book, then I read a few verses out of the Bible, and then back to the story book (the book stays pretty true to the Bible's account). Then we made an ark out of grahm crackers, filled it with animal crackers, and placed it in a bowl full of "water" ( blue-colored pudding). Wyatt LOVED it!

Here's our (sad) little ark with Noah and his animals. (Yes, I know the water looks a little green. You're more than welcome to try and make blue pudding yourself!)

Of course, we ate it, and Wyatt adapted the story's ending more to his liking. In Wyatt's version, all the animals drowned in the water, with Noah sailing his 'boat" over the top of them!

Anyway, that was our night! I'll be posting any fabulous ideas I have (which should be plenty because... well, isn't it obvious?), and I hope you'll all share some too!