Well the other night during my book club, Jake randomly decided that she could go to sleep by herself. Sure we've been dreaming of it for two years, but we never decided together that we were ready to help her through it.** She actually stayed in her bed about 15 minutes, crying the whole time, of course. Then she came downstairs to find us because she was "too scared". I went upstairs and talked to her for a few minutes. She clung to me with all her might and begged for me to sleep with her. My heart broke at how sad and scared she was (and under my breath I was grumbling at Jake for deciding to start this battle with her.) I left her screaming, and she came out immediately. So, I put her back in bed, thank you Supernanny, a few times. Finally she stayed in bed for 30 seconds, and I stood around the corner waiting for her to get up again. She came creeping out of her room until she saw me, and then darted back around the corner so I wouldn't know she was there. I put her in bed one more time, and she cried herself to sleep in defeat.
And now for the happy part of the story. SHE'S GONE TO SLEEP BY HERSELF EVERY DAY SINCE! With no crying! The first morning after she said, proud as can be, "I went to sleep by myself last night." Plus, she stayed in her bed all night. This morning she waited in her bed until I woke up at 8:00. 8:00!!!!! This is a girl who comes into our room every night and whispers "MOMMY!" every 10 minutes from 6:00 until the clock says 7:00, at which point I let her wake up.
I'm not counting on the morning part, but HALLELUJAH! at going to sleep by herself.
(On the other hand, Evelyn decided she's scared at night and came to sleep in our room in the middle of the night. Dang it!)
**I hesitated so much because getting Evelyn to sleep by herself was terrible. One night I put her back in her bed 67 times. (Only to find out later that she was sick, after we found her in bed with throw up all over her.)
2 comments:
It's the worst when you're trying to play bad copy mommy and then it turns out your child was just sick, not ornery. Then I feel baaaaaad.
But yay!
I had a 45 minute time out with Nathan the other day because he decided it was funny to run away, over and over and over again. He's certainly testing us lately. The next day he also had a 20 minute time out, but gratefully, since then his time outs have been much more regular (between 1-3 min) because he *stays* on time out!
You'll probably think we're crazy, but since out kids struggle to fall asleep in the same room (you can imagine why), we put them down in 3 diff. rooms. Once they're down, we relocate them all back to the same room. Sarah thinks it's a hassle, but it works for us!
We did that with Caden one night. We had read a book that said not to talk to them, just put them back in their bed. That TICKED him off and he ended up yelling at us to "talk to him." He finally figured it out and went to bed. The next morning he wanted to talk all morning, but he stayed in bed. Congrats. It's such a good feeling!
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