Trying the blanket again

Blanket at Night

Alyria gave the blanket a couple tires last time, but had difficulty and gave up. When I went to see her this morning, one of the first things she did was declare, "Daddy, tonight I'm going to use the blanket!"

I acknowledged her declaration, though inside I assumed she was going to either forget or change her mind by the time she came home from school. (It's a delicate balance, but I try to stay concious of acknowledging her goals and being supportive, while trying to ensure I encourage her own self-pride rather than seeking my pride/approval).

To my surprise, she once again said she wanted to use the blanket. We had to alter the bedtime routine a little bit, keeping the lights on while we sang her to sleep so that she could find her way into the blanket. We've previously always sang in the dark, then set her down so as to provide a better sleep environment. She normally is quite fixed on her routines, but this appeared to be a welcome change today.

She was very tired tonight, after not having as much sleep the last few days (she still does not take naps at daycare). So she zonked out quite quickly! Hopefully she doesn't struggle too much with the blanket in the middle of the night.

Discussing the Day

I typically try to engage Alyria in conversation, asking her about her day. But she usually says "I didn't do anything". I have to probe quite a bit to get any details from her.

Lately I've been trying to change it up a bit so it doesn't feel like so much of a grill for her. I asked if she wanted to hear about my day. She still doesn't have much of an attention span to listen to a full story, but I was able to talk about a few things at least.

Talking about work

There was a story I remember hearing about a dentist whose three children all also became dentists. Someone asked them, how'd you get all your kids to go into dentistry? To which he said, "easy, I just always told them about how wonderful my day was".

That story has stuck with me, and I want to make sure she knows I really do love my work. Of course I plan to be honest about my feelings and if I have unpleasant days. Those will be good days to talk about struggles and how to cope with them.

Talking about computers

Since Alyria is also starting to understand a lot more, I introduced her to some of what I do today. I showed her one of the apps I'm working on. It has color and music, so I knew it would be a good one for her. And also has a timeline and waveforms, so I thought those would all be good introductions.

As much we shield her from screens at this age, I think it's important that she has some understanding of things that I work on, especially given how big a part of my life it makes up. I also think what and how we use technology is more important than whether or not it's a "screen". So I want to make sure she understands what I'm doing and seeing the accomplishments I achieve through dedication and persistence.