A new year, A new approach

A new year. A fresh start. The beginning of something great. I've always had the desire to create a resolution, something to improve upon in the coming year but either got lazy and never made it a priority or like many others, fell so short on day 2 that I would get discouraged and give up altogether. Ironically, this year, unintentionally, two huge resolutions have been created and implemented with surprising success in just the first few days...

(check with me in a few months to keep me accountable!) 

The difference? I teamed up with Daddy and together we are keeping each other responsible and helping each other through every step of the process via constructive criticism or just plain encouragement (& lots of humor!)

 The 1st subject of change: Spicy Ann Soto A.k.a. Alizea

A rambunctious beautiful 3 1/2 year old with curly golden locks and a sparkle in her eyes that will melt you.

Looks innocent enough, right?

 Well, unfortunately, because of many known, admittingly bad parenting moves on my/our part, a side effect of the difficult dark abyss of 1st trimester fatigue and sickness and other unknown factors, she has developed some bad sleeping habits which began to take a toll on my emotional and physical health and even our relationship.

"You musn't be speaking about me, Mother dear?"

 Oh yes, my darling. Your charm has gotten the best of me along with your mischievous ways and extreme intelligence that I underestimated terribly.

Inspired by the book, "Discipline that lasts a Lifetime" by Dr. Ray Guarendi and much much dialogue with Daddy, I came to a sort of revelation about how I was approaching and handling the dreaded nighttime routine cycle. I realized my thinking was all wrong. I love it when that happens. I was confusing coddling with comforting  and discipline with punishment just to give an example. But back to my point.

 Enter the scene. Staff Sergeant Soto. A.k.a. Big D. 

A firm, fun-loving, wonderful father who is a man of principle striving for obedient children par excellence .

We are in nighttime bootcamp folks, and it. is. intense.

But surprisingly, despite the tough love method that I was horrified of trying and more importantly sticking to it, their bond has deepened and strengthened like never before

  (and as for Spicy & me, well, let's just say, I am no longer her sleepy time drug.)