• Recipes
  • Lifestyle
  • Fitness
  • Nutrition
  • |
  • About
  • Work With Me
    • Brand partnerships
    • Nutrition Coaching
ready for halloween
November 2, 2020

The Doc is in + Toddler Sleep Update

15 comments
share this post:
  • Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email

Hello friends! How were your Halloweens?

Matt, Riese, and I had fun – our street did a socially distanced Halloween situation where anyone who wanted to participate put out tables of candy in front of their houses, or got creative and set up chutes to throw candy down, or clotheslines to fly candy down!

It was a lot of fun and nice to do something that felt more “normal.” 

Riese’s favorite show is Doc McStuffins, so that was her costume this year! She has been wearing it all month – she loves it so much. Matt and I get lots and lots of “checkups” from Doctor Riese. 😉

ready for halloween

Matt and I put out a table with mini bags of Halloween-themed toys + a little candy – here was our assembly line getting it all bagged up and ready to go (minus the candy). 

making bags of toys and candy for halloween

We ended up having dinner in 2 parts that night – part 1 was at 5 before we went out to walk around with Riese – I didn’t want to go out walking with her getting tons of candy while starving. We ate the rest of dinner when we got back!

We had a simple pasta with zucchini, mushrooms, and some ground turkey we found in the freezer. 

pasta with ground turkey

Other Riese-related fun from the weekend included her soccer practice on Saturday morning. It was chilly out so having a mask on felt quite nice! 

Our Marine Corps 10k packets this year included face masks – fun! It just has the full marathon noted on the face mask but I figure I’ve run the full in the past so I can justify wearing it around. 😉

Marine corps marathon face mask

Post-soccer routine: ordered ahead Swings Coffee lattes + a scone – we tried the savory ham, cheddar, and chive one this time which was tasty. 

bacon cheddar chive scone from swings coffee

And then we ended up at EveningStar Cafe’s back outdoor area as usual for brunch. It’s always nice to get a break from our own kitchen + a thousand dishes since we are almost entirely eating at home these days! 

outdoor brunch at eveningstar cafe

Speaking of – other food from the weekend included seared beef stuffed into pitas with tzatziki + pickles with a side salad:

beef pita with tzatziki and salad

And on Sunday we did a little meal prep and made a bacon, egg, bell pepper, and basil frittata to eat on this week. I love having some sort of egg dish prepped for the week, it makes weekdays so much easier! 

We made this one in the skillet as you can see (we sautéed the veggies briefly first, then added the eggs, already cooked bacon chopped into small pieces, and basil and let it cook for another couple minutes before putting it in the oven to cook fully), but here’s a similar recipe for the oven: Veggie Egg Casserole (Frittata) Recipe.

frittata with bacon, bell pepper, basil, and cheese

We also made some pumpkin bread with walnuts and dried cranberries! 

pumpkin bread with dried cranberries

I will leave you with an update on our toddler sleep situation! As I mentioned previously in my post a couple weeks ago asking for toddler sleep advice, we were having issues with Riese fighting bedtime HARD and wanting to stay up until 9 or 10 many nights, which was rough for all of us. 

Many of you said that since she’s almost 3 it might be time for her to drop her nap, and we tried that one day but it was honestly a complete fail with Riese an exhausted hot mess and both of us very frazzled. The crescendo was me dragging Riese kicking and screaming out of Matt’s office in the background of the Zoom meeting he was attempting to start leading. It was definitely a low point for all of us… 

Anyway. We ended up putting the toddler rail on her crib, because I was looking into getting her a big girl bed (she said she wanted one) and it was going to take a couple months for most of them to arrive. So, we figure this can be phase 1 and we’ll get her a real big girl bed later this year or early next whenever we find one we like and order it! 

Riese has been really into her “new” big girl bed, and one thing that has been hugely helpful is that she can get out and get her own books now – she used to call us back in a thousand times for books. Please note the ridiculous pile in her bed in the pic below – she often has so many books in there with her there’s barely any space for her, but whatever works…

toddler bed with tons of books

To help the late night situation, we decided that rather than cut out her naps entirely (since she seems to really need them still, plus it would be tough right now given her naps are my work time), we have started waking her up from her naps a bit early. We’ve always been on team “let the child sleep if possible”, so it honestly pains me to wake her up, especially if she’s out cold and I’m in the middle of something for work, but it has seemed to help with the late night situation to not let her sleep past 3:30. (I know, I’m sure some of you are reading that horrified that we ever let her sleep past 3:30… it wasn’t an issue until recently)! 

The other big game changer has been that we got a Hatch light at a number of friend’s recommendations. It’s basically an expensive nightlight that you can set to change colors at certain times of day, and it has honestly been 100% worth the money because once we got it, Riese started actually staying in her room. (We can’t close her door or lock her in because she HATES having her door closed at night and would lose her mind. One night we had a baby gate in the open door, but she didn’t want it there, so she agreed if we removed it she’d stay in her room when her nightlight told her to, and so far it has worked.) We have the nightlight set for red (aka “stay in your room”) from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m., when it turns blue (aka “okay to wake up/leave your room”). It’s also red from 1:15 – 3:15 (for nap). Anyway, I didn’t think I’d be recommending a $60 nightlight, but here we are – it works, I see why people pay that price. We don’t use the white noise setting on it since we already have a white noise machine she’s used to, but that is another function to make it a little more worth the price! 

Anyway! That’s all I have for you today. This week is probably going to be pretty intense here in the U.S. given the election tomorrow, so I’m going to take Wednesday off from posting and will be back on Friday with some recipe inspiration. I’m planning to be back to my normal Mon-Wed-Fri posting schedule next week. 

Take care of yourselves this week, my friends. <3

- anne
share this post:
  • Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email

join the list

Sign up for my e-newsletter and I'll send you a meal plan packed with a week's worth of healthy meals, snacks and a shopping list. Happy eating!

you might also like:

Taco Night!

capitol christmas tree 2020

Capitol Christmas Tree + Ferris Wheel-ing + No More Naps

Christmas Week Fitness Adventures

Cooking Tips from the Author of Georgia’s Kitchen!

leave a comment

Cancel reply

15 comments
  • ana November 2, 2020 · 12:21PM:
    Aw, I love your little doctor! How nice to have an in-house physician! ;-) Glad you are finding your way with the sleep/nap situation. Whatever works! I remember it was a sad day when my son gave up his naps - but it was either that or party 'till midnight, haha!
    Reply
    • Anne
      November 2, 2020 · 1:58PM:
      Haha yeah, Riese still stays up "reading" her books until about 9 most nights, but at least now she's just hanging out in there vs. calling for us every second like before!
      Reply
  • Ashley November 2, 2020 · 12:35PM:
    Hi Anne! Just wanted to reply in solidarity to your post. We must have very similar children, as my almost-4 year old's bed looks exactly like that--covered in books (and some stuffed animals). (Sometimes they fall out in the middle of the night and make a huge sound, but it's just the books thankfully!) We also have a hatch light, which has worked really well for us (we use "green" to signal waking up/getting out of bed since green means "go"), and also tried to drop a nap only to have it bite us around 5pm when he goes crazy. His preschool actually still has naptime, although the kids mostly just lay down quietly, not sleep. Unless we have something planned, on the weekends when we're home, we still ask that he goes up to his room and read in his bed between 1-3pm. We also first used the crib with the rail removed, which worked great, and then ultimately got a bed when we were in our third trimester with his sister. It's much better when they can get out, especially to use the bathroom! We did go through phases where he left and came into our bedroom, but now we let him watch his tablet for 30 minutes in the morning if he wakes up early, to avoid him waking my husband/disrupting my morning workouts/waking the baby up. I'm glad it's working out well for you and fingers crossed for the continued success!
    Reply
    • Anne
      November 2, 2020 · 1:59PM:
      Hatch light FTW!! It really has been a game changer for Riese to feel more in charge with the bed situation - she's always been a "by myself!" type kid who wants to do it all on her own, so it makes sense she likes being able to get out of her bed, get herself more books, etc.! She still stays up late "reading" but it's not AS late as before and now she doesn't call for us forever or try to get my husband to stay in there with her, which is huge for us to have some actual downtime before bed.
      Reply
  • Lisa of Lisa's Yarns
    November 2, 2020 · 1:19PM:
    What a cute little doctor! Paul hasn't watched that show yet but we'll have to check it out when he tires of Daniel Tiger. He switches from Daniel Tiger to Dinosaur Train to Sesame Street, and seems to like to watch the same episodes over and over again! I've heard Doc McStuffins is really cute. Our little guy was a dinosaur - it was a very warm costume which is perfect for Minnesota. I'm glad the sleep issues have gotten better! I am hoping to hold onto that afternoon nap as long as we possibly can! He's actually been napping better than ever - 2 hours nearly every weekend day which is way better than he had been napping up until this fall. He's never been a great napper sadly - hopefully #2 is better, and hopefully he sticks to these 2 hour naps when his brother is born in December! We've been dealing with a lot of middle of the night wake-ups, or I should say my husband has (I've been sleeping in the basement as I need more room for tossing/turning/etc). We put a night light in his room 2 nights ago and that seems to be helping. I'll have to check out the Hatch light down the road if that seems like something that will help!
    Reply
    • Anne
      November 2, 2020 · 1:57PM:
      I am sorry to hear you're dealing with middle of the night wake ups! Those are always tough, especially when they are unexpected. <3
      Reply
  • roadrunner November 2, 2020 · 7:40PM:
    Fascinating to hear about the fancy night light - that actually works! And she really doesn't emerge when it is red? If that is that case, it is more than worth the crazy price! (And bring on that egg casserole!)
    Reply
    • Anne
      November 5, 2020 · 10:12AM:
      She really doesn't! She waits until it's blue and then sprints to our room. So worth the price!
      Reply
  • Gina November 3, 2020 · 3:35PM:
    "I didn’t think I’d be recommending a $60 nightlight, but here we are" << I feel this deep in my new-mom bones!
    Reply
    • Anne
      November 5, 2020 · 10:12AM:
      Lol. Yep!
      Reply
  • Laura November 5, 2020 · 3:55PM:
    We have a Hatch light for both kids and it's great! We had to transition our son to a toddler bed right after he turned two as he was climbing out of his crib. We struggled with him calling for us early in the morning. My husband set up the Hatch light in his room and he caught on within a day or two! In the morning he proudly says "I waited for my light!".
    Reply
    • Anne
      November 6, 2020 · 12:58PM:
      So cute!
      Reply
  • Laura November 8, 2020 · 5:39PM:
    Hi Anne, Thanks for the sleep update - our 3 year old is similar, she clearly still needs the nap but then wants to party late! We're avoiding the 'big girl' bed situation at the moment, but know it's only a matter of time - I like the sound of this Hatch light - what sort of light does it give? We currently have the Gro Egg in there, which she is happy with - is it a similar sort of glow, or a bit brighter?
    Reply
    • Anne
      November 9, 2020 · 10:44AM:
      I'm not familiar with the Gro Egg, so not sure how bright it is compared to that, but it's definitely brighter than a regular small nightlight just since it's bigger... but Riese likes that because she always wants more light in her room anyway! It's a glow but a bright glow if that makes sense. Doesn't seem to distract from sleep!
      Reply
  • Kris s November 25, 2020 · 8:03AM:
    Love the book pile!!
    Reply
- next post
previous post -

about Anne

anne mauney fannetastic food
Hi, I’m Anne! I'm a Washington D.C. based Registered Dietitian, mother, runner, and lover of travel, adventure, and the great outdoors. I've been blogging since 2009, sharing a mix of lifestyle content, recipes, and fitness tips. Come for the recipes – stay for the fun!
Learn more

fannetastic reads

Top Posts
01

My Top 9 Most Popular Recipes + Posts

02

Why I Don’t Recommend Whole30

03

What Causes Sugar Cravings (+ How to Stop Them!)

04

How I Make Money As a Blogger

05

Blog Recipes We Make Again and Again

06

What to Eat Before and After a Long Run

07

What to Eat During Long Runs

08

7 Common Nutrition Myths

09

How to Love Veggies

connect with Anne

Email me
anne mauney

I’m Anne, a Registered Dietitian and mother. I've been blogging since 2009 and love showing others that eating nutritious foods and staying active can actually be fun rather than overwhelming!

When I’m not writing or cooking for fannetastic food, you can find me running, coaching nutrition clients, or on an adventure with my family. Feel free to reach out - I'd love to hear from you!

follow anne:

join the list

Sign up for my e-newsletter and I'll send you a meal plan packed with a week's worth of healthy meals, snacks and a shopping list. Happy eating!

back to top
  • About
  • Contact
  • Recent Posts
  • Privacy Policy
  • FAQ

© copyright fannetastic food - site by kc - exclusive member of mediavine