Saturday, July 7, 2012

4th of July and Sleeping

We had a great 4th of July! We spent the evening with friends, cooking and swimming. Hollyn was so pumped about the fireworks so we decided since she would be up anyway we would go downtown to watch them. This girl has the HARDEST time waiting for anything! It was super hard for her to wait until they started and once they did, she wasn't even watching half the time. She spent that time peeing in the field, and deciding she was starving to death. On the way home she threw one of her ROYAL tantrums, because she wanted food and hates riding in the car seat. We may watch the fireworks on TV next year. 
 She looked adorable and was not in the mood for picture taking. She was either pouting or acting like a diva from Toddlers & Tiaras.
On to sleeping... We decided about two weeks ago to try to begin getting her out of my bed. I was prepared for lots of crying and little sleep for all. The first week has to count as a huge success! She has fallen asleep a little later since we switched, (close to 11 most nights), BUT she has not had ONE screaming fit going to bed or in the middle of the night! We made a sticker chart and once she had three nights, she got to go to build a bear. I still have to lay down with her and then I leave. She calls me on the monitor in the middle of the night. She has cried a little bit when she wakes up because she is truly afraid to be alone. I then lay back down with her and most of the time just stay because I am too tired to go back and forth. She is averaging about 3 hours alone in her room each night. No, not ideal but it's a great start. I know this process will take months, so I just have to be positive about it. Hopefully, we will see lots of improvements in the fall when we start school again and have more consistency. 

1 comment:

Jennifer said...

That is great progress on the sleeping! Celebrate all of the little successes, it will keep your spirits high. I hope her ability to stay asleep in her room happens quicker than you anticipate. Josiah is truly afraid to be alone to. He won't even go downstairs without someone with him. I think one of the reasons our transition was a little easier was because he knew Paul was in the room with him. Hang in there!