Focusing on being thankful

I'll start this with a few pictures from our fun today. Ben found this play tent at Burlington while I was shopping for maternity clothes today. We had a feeling Alli would love it and we were right.

The blanket we put in for padding turned into Alli's blanket for "night night".

The final two smiles sum up the focus of this post. We've had quite a few things going on this week that could cause distractions, be taxing or bring us down but we've made a point to focus on the positive and be thankful. One of the most taxing things on me lately is that Alli has officially become the 2 year old that I hear most mothers complaining about. Alli's always been a good sleeper...she's 99% of the time well behaved and I'm so thankful for that. I posted back on Monday about Alli realizing she can now get out of her bed and open her door. This new found freedom has switched some thought process in her brain in regards to her sleep and the routine we "used" to have. This is where I have grown frustrated.

For the last 4-5 nights we've done our normal routine which usually put Alli in the mindset of bedtime and even though she might not want to go to bed, she was ok with it. Now this routine means nothing. As soon as Alli knows we're getting her ready for bed, the waterworks begin. Alli becomes extremely emotional and wants nothing to do with it. As soon as we say goodnight and shut the door, Alli gets out of bed and tries to come downstairs. We played this game the first night but the second night we had to lock her in her room to get her to realize bedtime is bedtime. She gets mad for about 5 minutes but then settles in and goes to bed. I don't like locking her in. So that second night I went back and unlocked her door after she went to sleep. Well this only resulted in Alli coming into my room in the middle of the night thinking it was time to get up. I had to snuggle with her for a minute and then get her back to bed. My sleep is broken enough as it is pregnant that I can't handle it. So we've had to leave it locked all night. Between the battle at bedtime and Alli's broken sleep, we've had an abnormally cranky toddler to deal with. Today was by far the worst. Alli whined all day long and I knew it was a result of no sleep so I couldn't be mad at her. It was so nice and refreshing to see her smile and laugh when she played in her tent. It made me smile and be thankful for such a wonderful little girl. She is a blessing and no matter how cranky she or I can get going through this stage, I'm trying to remember this and handle this stage with patience.