The sleep chronicles {Part 1}

Putting Owen down to sleep in his big boy bed last night was a dream come true!  

Thank you, Lord, for giving me that!  

Of all the recent changes we've been experiencing, the toddler bed was the largest and the one that I'm least prepared to handle.  My plan was to keep Owen in his crib until B returned home, then research methods on how to actually keep him in his bed, and most off all... share the frustration with B! 

But, that plan changed with one quick kick over the side rail! 

 I haven't read any how to books or had time to pick up tips from friends.  I barely had time to assemble the crib rail... at best, I'm winging it.  

Owen woke up at 4AM... since this was his first night in his big boy bed, I assumed that he woke up and was scared to be in a different looking bed.  But, after picking him up and spending the next 45 minutes rocking him in the chair... I realized the problem was a fun-new-little-tooth :O( 

So, I congratulated Owen on making it an entire night, without tears or needing to be chased back into bed.  His reward was supposed to be breakfast out and new pjs.  But, there aren't any places worth going to at 5AM--- so we ate oatmeal instead. Around 9, we drove to the store to buy the pjs that he was admiring the day before while I shopped for a crib rail.  It took him 5 minutes (eternity in the 2 year old attention span department) to decide on the right pair. In the end, we left with two sets... Lightning McQueen and Mater.  It was so much fun to watch him decide between the Thomas the Train and Cars pjs.  By far, he knows more about Thomas the Train, but something about those race cars really got his attention today.  We own the DVD, but he hasn't watched it yet so I told him we could watch the movie if he slept all night tonight.  Oh, boy... I hope we are watching the movie tomorrow! {Just maybe around 7AM instead of 4AM?!}

At nap time today, I was certain we would never see the Cars movie or Owen asleep in a bed--ever.  I went through all the motions... water cup, choosing the right toy to take to bed, reading a book, cuddling and saying our prayers--- then sat him down and waited for the torture to begin. 

And, it was torture....

He spent about 5 minutes quietly talking, 

about 10 more minutes calling for me,

another 25 playing with every toy he could reach,

and an extra 20 minutes screaming.  

After a really un-fun hour, I decided that nap time wasn't worth it and let him out of his room. He was so upset. It broke my heart to see my little guy so tired, but cranky and mad because he doesn't know how to stay in bed yet.  He was extra mad that I kept leaving the room. 

My original plan was to walk in and put him back in bed each time I heard him out of bed, but that was just a game. So, I decided that he would just need to cry it out.  I knew he was tired and hoped he was just give in.  He didn't, I did. 

This is a picture of his room when I raised the white flag and surrendered. 

I still didn't have time to read any parenting books or call friends for advice. He was tired and cranky. I barely had time to go to the bathroom (and he was even mad about that). But, I did have time to think.  

The problem isn't that he doesn't want or need to sleep... it's that he doesn't stay in the bed long enough to actually fall asleep. 

I decided the bedtime would be different.  

I wasn't going to trust that he would stay in bed --- or play peek-a-boo behind the door and pop in every time his foot touched the floor.  

I decided to stay in the room with him.

Here are the rules I made for myself:

1. Follow the bedtime routine and put him in the bed.

2. After that... no talking or eye contact. If I look in his eyes, he lights up the the biggest smile that I just can't help but laugh.... and sleep (or lack of sleep) is not a laughing matter.

3. If his feet touched the carpet I would place him back in bed. Talking, singing, playing with his toy were all okay.  He used to do that in his crib for 10 minutes or so and then fall asleep, so I know that he will eventually go to bed... but he'll never sleep if he's getting up and down out of bed. 

It worked! I sat silently in the rocking chair and he stayed in bed. About 10 minutes into the standoff he crossed over from playing with his toys to actually trying to get out of bed. I stood up and he sat down on his own.  He was asleep 5 minutes later. 

15 minutes... Not bad for day two!