The Baby is Coming in Two Hours

I was having contractions last night, and (just for fun) I asked Ari:

"Ari, is the baby coming now?"
He replied: "No. In two hours."

This alarmed me so much that even though I've been on a good streak with regard to getting Ari to bed at a reasonable hour, I was so freaked out that I allowed him to stay up an extra two hours (watching Disney's Robin Hood) to make sure his oracle-like prediction didn't come true.

Thank goodness, he was wrong. The baby is still happily in my uterus.

Thank You Rudyard Kipling- An Update on Sleep Issue

I previously wrote about the issues I've had getting Ari to sleep and my fear that he may be an insomniac. Since that time, I received many wonderful suggestions from parents on another site that I write for, 5 Minute for Parenting.

I thought a lot about the sleep situation. I decided a few things:
1. Ari is definitely manipulating me into allowing him to stay up later and later.
2. Because he is being manipulative, he needs firm boundaries at bedtime.
3. He needs some kind of white nose to go to sleep.

So I took matters into my own maternal hands, and right before bedtime, I told him:
"Last chance! If you're hungry or thirsty, let me know now. Once you get into bed, no food and no drinks."

"Okay." He said benignly.

I warned him that I was going to read him three SHORT books, he could choose them himself, and then he would listen to some books on tape. We read the the books, but it was a struggle to keep him sitting still. He began jumping up and down on the bed during story time. I let him know if he was going to behave that way, there would be no more stories. He continued to maniacally jump on the bed, so I said:
"Fine, I'm turning the light out and you're going to sleep, no more books." And I did.
He cried.
I said "Are you going sit still now?" I asked.
He nodded tearfully.

We finished the books, and then my friend Rudyard Kipling:

came to the rescue. Through the voice of Boris Karloff:

Karloff read us "Just So Stories" on this fine CD that I purchased from Amazon.com:




Special thanks to my wonderful friend Leah Greenwald for recommending these stories on CD. They are a lifesaver!

After we finished the physical books, I told Ari we were going to hear some "special stories" on CD. I popped the CD into the laptop and turned the light off. After threatening him several times, i.e "if you don't lay down, you'll have to sleep by yourself," he finally lay down, listened to the stories, and fell asleep.

This has gone on for the past three nights. Despite the fact that I have to be annoyingly firm with him, the process is working! He loves the audio stories, and he's asleep by 8:30-9pm! Hooray!
Now all I have to do is keep it up!

Thank you to everyone for your helpful suggestions!

One more thing! Enter my giveaway with Little One Books for a chance to win a $20 gift certificate to their fantastic site! Click on their button below for more info:

Yes, I'm Ingesting My Placenta

I was talking with my midwife recently about my fear of getting Postpartum depression. I've been so depressed this pregnancy, that I am legitimately concerned about hitting a major low after giving birth. I would like to avoid taking anti-depressants, if possible, and breast feed for a year, like I did with Ari.

My midwife asked me this:

"Have you considered placenta encapsulation?"

I paused for a moment and then replied:

"I don't even know what that means."

She went on to tell me that it is possible to take one's placenta, after birth of course, dry it out, condense it into capsules, and take them like vitamins. My midwife has seen these placenta pills help women combat postpartum, and work wonders with PMS.

It makes sense, when you think about it, ingesting your placenta. With the exception of humans, mammals automatically eat their placenta after birth.

I'm not going to do this process on my own, but rather I've hired a doula who specializes in placenta encapsulation to prepare the capsules for me.

I will let you know if these placenta pills are magical mood lifters or not.

Know Thy Enemy

I've often heard people equate two-year-olds to adolescents, and now I'm starting to understand what they mean. Much like a teenager, Ari has pronounced likes and dislikes. For example, he has decided that he hates jeans.


This becomes a major battle when we are attempting to get dressed and leave the house. As a result of his denim hatred, I've purchased several pairs of non-jean pants such as fleece pants, sweatpants, running pants, corduroys, you get the idea. The only trouble is when we've gone through all the "comfortable pants" (as he calls them) all that's left are these:

They are the enemy. If I try to put them on his little legs, he'll scream "NO JEANS!"

But when they are the only option, I have to force him to wear them!

Anyone else's kid have fabric preferences?

Little One Books $20 Gift Certificate Giveaway & Corduroy DVD Review

Happy New Year everybody! In honor of the new year, I'm co-hosting a $20 gift certificate giveaway with Little One Books.


I did a previous giveaway with this fantastic grandparent owned company here.

But before I get to the giveaway, I want to talk about a DVD based on a classic children's book: Corduroy.

If you don't know the story, it's about a little girl who falls in love with a stuffed bear in a department store who is missing a button on his corduroy overalls. It's a wonderful story where, in the end, she saves up enough money to buy the bear, who she appropriately names Corduroy, and fixes his missing button.

Ari just heard Corduroy at a weekly story time at the Brooklyn Public Library and he loved it.

Recently, I was perusing the Little One Books website and found this:

It's a live action version of the classic book and it also has six other stories on it narrated by Laura Dern, Mia Farrow and others.

At first, I have to admit, I was a little scared of how they would pull off a "live action" version of Corduroy. In the book, Corduroy (the bear) comes to life and runs around the department store in search of his missing button.

But then I recalled this fellow from the 1980's:

Remember Teddy Ruxpin? He was a talking bear friend of mine from childhood. If I accepted him, I told myself, I could accept a live action Corduroy, who looked eerily similar to Ruxpin.


Ari was demanding to watch Max and Ruby today, but I told him we were going to watch Corduroy instead. He pouted for all of five minutes. Then, all of a sudden, he started to get into it:

Can you see his fascinated expression in the reflection of my laptop?



After Corduroy was over he demanded to watch it again even though I explained to him that there were six more stories on the DVD. Eventually, he got around to the remaining stories and decided that he also loves "Goose" and "The Happy Owls."

Now, time for the giveaway! If chosen, you will win a $20 gift certificate to Little One Books. They have fantastic children's books, DVDs and CDs!

To Enter:

1. Post a comment with what product(s) you'd like to buy from the Little One Books website
2. Follow my blog (either with feed reader, or Google Friend Connect)
3. Like Little One Books on Facebook here.
4. Like Old School/New School Mom on Facebook here
5. Follow Little One Books on Twitter here.
6. Finally, sign up for The Little One Books newsletter! The sign up is on the upper right hand corner of their site.

Also, when you purchase two or more items on the Little One Books site between 1/5/11 and 1/19/11, you get a free children's music CD!

Just enter the promotional code 'goodmorning' at checkout.

The winner to this giveaway will be selected at random and announced on Wednesday 1/19/11!

GOOD LUCK and HAPPY 2011!!!

Wordless Wednesday: Backpack

If only you knew what was inside...

I Have An Insomniac 2 1/2 Year old

I've dreaded writing this, because if the words come out they make it real, but I can't take it anymore, I have to let it out. My child is an insomniac.

There have been several nights that he's been up until midnight and slightly beyond.


Now, before you judge me, hear me out. We have a bedtime routine and it starts out around 6:30pm. We have dinner, we watch one episode of the insidious Max and Ruby or Blue's Clues (his choice), he has a bath, we read 1-3 books at which point he appears to be sleepy. But then...as he's lying in bed next to me (because as I've mentioned in previously, we co-sleep) he starts off whispering:

"I hungry."

It gets progressively louder until he is audible and finally loud.
Then he says:
"Sandwich."

I've tried both giving him the sandwich or ignoring his pleas. But both result in further sleep rebellion.

In addition to saying he's hungry, he also demands to switch sleeping locations. He'll be in the bedroom and demand to sleep in the living room on the couch with me. I've recently flat out refused, made him stay in the bed.

He also will try to stay awake by demanding more and more books to be read to him.

Now, you might say:
"Get him in his own bed! He'll sleep better!"

My response:
1. Sure, that would be nice, but guess what? I'm nine months pregnant and too tired to deal with that process.
2. Many families successfully co-sleep, and their kids don't appear to be insomniacs. Why is my kid refusing to sleep?

You also might suggest, get him into bed at 8pm and ignore his pleas.

My response:
1. Could you ignore your kid who is right next to you and either screaming or asking the same question over and over again?


2. I've already done sleep-training and I don't have the emotional energy to do it again.
3. Please remember, once again, the constraints of my current physical condition. I'm 174 lbs and there is a human incubating in my uterus.

So I ask you, what are my options? And please don't judge me. I already feel like the worst parent. I need some practical advice to get my kid sleeping.