Sleep Issues

Update: This seems to have just been a phase she was going through for a couple of days...she is back to her old sleeping habits now and it is BLISS!! (7/24)


So Hailey has always been an exceptional sleeper. She has been sleeping 6 or more hours a night since she was 6 weeks old, its been AWESOME! She can even fall asleep through VERY loud situations. She has fallen asleep at a Jazz game, at a very LOUD party (not to mention that she was right by the speaker blaring music), and during fireworks at the OremFest.

I know right now all of you are jealous of my child's sleeping habits....well be jealous NO MORE!

We are having some serious sleep issues at my house right now. I put Hailey to bed last night (and the night before for that matter) at 8:30pm. What time did she go to sleep, you ask? 12:30am!! Serious! 12:30am!! 4 hours for a two year old to fall asleep at night...I'm thinking that is just a TAD ridiculous!!

Now here is where you come in...HELP ME!!! I need suggestions of what to do (what you have done if your kids have gone through the same thing) or support that this might just be a phase. I'm really hoping this is a phase...As much as I like sleeping in until 9 or 10 (which thankfully is what Hailey has been doing), I can't handle her not sleeping until 12:30am.

Help me...

Any other MOM's with me??

Ok, so I know you are all going to tell me this is NORMAL 2 year old behavior. I understand that 2 year olds are belligerent and challenging, but I don't know what to do!!

First of all: this "NO!" word has to go!! (Anyone else with me on that one??) I ask her to stop doing something, or to do something and she, more often than not, screams "NO!" Its INFURIATING! And not acceptable! How do you get them to learn that it is not acceptable behavior?

Second: the "MINE!" needs to be banished as well. (I can't be alone on that one either) I was very careful when I was teaching Hailey how to talk that I RARELY, if EVER said something was "mine." I usually said something like "Mommy's" or "Hailey's" I didn't want her to pick up "MINE!" But low and behold, she learned it anyway. I'm sure this was a inevitability, but I hoped (vainly) that the fact I didn't teach it to her would help.

Third: the ATTITUDE. The "what-are-you-gonna-do-about-it-mom" looks. The rolling the eyes. The stomping and screaming. I thought that this attitude wouldn't come until we were in the pre-teens. Guess I'm in trouble. If she's this bad when she's not even 2....I don't even want to know what she's going to be like when she's 12!

Now, I don't believe in spanking as a primary form of discipline, but I will admit that I do use it on occasion. ONLY AFTER everything else has failed. Sometimes it is the ONLY thing that gets through to her. I don't enjoy it, by any means. So if any moms have any other suggestions, I'M ALL EARS! I'm not ready to go gray yet...but I'm about there!