So tonight, after weeks of caving and calloused elbows, Mama drew a line. And I am so effing proud of myself.
We read a story, sang a song, I kissed him goodnight and said, "I love you. Time to sleep." and walked out of the room leaving the door open. I went into the office. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth. I now have a whole new appreciation for the saying: " That's my name, don't wear it out." Every time he would come out of the room I would put him back in the bed and say, "Sleep." (Can you tell we watched "Supernanny" while we were in the UK?) I put him back in there at least 15 times. At least. And I think the whole episode lasted about an hour. But finally he relented, or at least ran out of energy.
And here is where he fell asleep:
Don't worry. He's tucked away in his bed... for now. Our concern has always been that he go to sleep in his own bed. Or the hall floor. Whatever. But if he ends up in our bed, so be it. I know the day will come when he won't want to crawl into bed with us, and that is fine. Some nights he sleeps all night in his bed. Other nights he's in with us after a few hours. But hey... at least we don't leave him on the floor.
Mama triumphed tonight (over herself mostly).
Good job, Beth! Way to be strong!
ReplyDeleteEvan has those same jammies. :)
Lucky for us, he's still content to sleep in the crib and doesn't try to climb out. But he has been going through a spell for about a week of crying for a few minutes at bedtime. For months he has been silent from the moment his body touched the bed, so the first night I figured something had to be wrong -- but no, he just wanted to cuddle. Once he had wised up to the fact that I had wised up to his delay tactic, he just plaintively cried and called out "Mama, please! Mama, please!" Breaks a girl's heart!
Good luck! And if he sleeps well and is in no danger on the floor, leave him there! The sleep doctors say an undisturbed night of rest is better than a night broken just to get him into a bed.
I saw that episode of SuperNanny where she put her kid in bed like 68 times in one night. Such great patience.
ReplyDeleteBut if i know Julian, he could never be anything but sugar sweet!! ;)
Cassie - I don't know about that sugar business. You are welcome to come over and witness Satan Staton.
ReplyDeleteK - I saw those pj's in one of your little bear videos, I think. Cuteness on both boys!! We did move him into the bed... only because we didn't want him to be at risk of a canine trampling. Lord have mercy... it DOES break a girl's heart!!
I definitely found my way to my parents' bed many a time in my young life. I'm thinking even up in the 7-9 range. Weird. But I've always been pretty freaked out by the whole night time experiences.
ReplyDeleteBut, I digress, congratulations on being a hard ass. I'm proud.