Bad weekend (long post)

This was a really hard weekend here at our house. I'm not 100% sure what's going on, but here's what happened...

It started Thursday night at Olivia's normal bed time and we read one of her favourite stories and did the usual bedtime routines, but as soon as I shut her bedroom door she started screaming. And I mean screaming bloody murder. You'd swear that someone was trying to cut her fingers off or something... I went back up 2 or 3 times and as soon as I walked back in she was fine. This continued Friday and Saturday nights as well.

(of course, Jason was working night shift Friday, Saturday and Sunday so I had to go through this hell alone!)

Anyway, Friday night continued as Thrusday night did, HELL. And on Saturday she did this during her nap time as well before she fell asleep. At bedtime, after about an hour of dealing with this, I offered to leave her closet light on for her so she could see her story books and read. She's only got a VERY dim nightlight in her room. Not enough to light up room to any extent, just enough that I can BARELY see where I'm about to step on when I go in to check on her at night.

Well, once I left the light on she sat up there and read her stories and talked to her toys until 11:30pm, but she wasn't crying or screaming so I let it go. Before I went to bed I went up and turned off her closet light, thinking that this was over and done with now. She woke up around 2:30 am screaming again. So I went up to check on her and as soon as I turned on the closet light she calmed down. So, of course, I'm thinking that she's developed a fear of the dark. It seems strange for it to come on all of a sudden, but I'm not going to argue with what works. However, it does seem strange that she was screaming at Nap time as well, because there's enough light coming in around her blinds that there shouldn't be a "dark" issue at that time of day.

Anyway, Sunday at nap time was a bad one too, but after the screaming and crying fit ended (on her part and mine *lol*) she ended up sitting up there talking to herself until around 4pm when we went up to get her up... so, no nap. Sunday night she went right to sleep, no problems whatsoever. I did, however offer to leave the light on before we could go through this... so my theory that this was a fear of the dark related issue was "proven" in my mind, and I assumed that as long as we picked up a decent night light the next time we went to Fredericton that this would be done with.

Well, Monday at nap time came and she was right back to the screaming thing again. Again, she didn't nap at all but went right to sleep at her evening bedtime again... So, now we're wondering if she's just getting to the age when she's trying to give up naps altogether. It seems strange that until Thursday night she was fine with napping. But the nights we had the worst time were the days she napped, and the days she didn't nap at all were the ones when she went right to sleep at night without fussing.

I'd almost rather it was the scared of the dark thing, becasue with a new baby coming in less than 2 months, I need her to be napping now more than ever. This means that I won't be able to rest at all during the day when the baby is sleeping.

One of the other things I don't understand is the screaming thing. She's skipped naps before. She sometimes just sits in her room playing and talking with her teddy bears and reading her books for her entire nap time. I've never tried to force her to sleep if she's not tired. She just needs a quiet "rest" time sometimes. So, to go from doing that to the whole screaming bloody murder thing all of a sudden seems strange.

I don't know.... Oh well, there's not much I can do about it now. Just hope the screaming stops soon one way or the other. I don't think I can handle her acting like this when the baby arrives!