Thursday, October 12, 2006

Drive me to drinkin'

I'm serious. The crib-sleeping issue is making me crazy. It hasn't been all bad, but the rough nights far outweigh the easy nights. On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the best, we are at a 6. In my world that equals a D-, or the lowest possible passing grade. We are certainly making progress but I didn't expect it to take this looooooooong. Aren't kids just supposed to naturally sleep in cribs? Doesn't God tell them about that before he sends them from Heaven? I can't believe what a rookie I am at this! I had planned a perfect schedule of achieving this goal and by my calculations, we are about 3 nights behind. I think I read somewhere that the screaming should last three nights. We are on night #6. And lets talk about nap time--just as bad. I put her in the crib at 1:00. I always tell her that it is naptime and that she is going to sleep in Lilli's crib, or her crib. Today she started shaking her head no and pouting. As soon as I put her in the crib, the screaming commenced. She only screamed for about 10 minutes and then started playing. She would peek up over the bumper pads to see if I was watching her and quickly lower her head when she saw that I was watching. We played this game for a little while. Then she decided to stand up and try to climb out using the bumper pads as stepping stools. What a stinker! I had to repeatedly tell her to lay down or put her head down. I was getting extremely frustrated and I'm sure she sensed this. This went on until 1:30 and then I couldn't take it anymore. I walked out of her room and closed the door. MAJOR screaming started then. Top-of-her-lungs screaming. Pure insanity. She was hitting the crib and jumping around. I think she added about 100 more gray hairs to my head this afternoon. FINALLY, at 2:00 she was asleep. Now, surprisingly enough, I think this is a HUGE step. She has never worn herself out crying in the crib. I felt much better after it was all over and think this "test" ended on a positive note. This is exactly what we have been working toward. Again, I just wish there were some way to rationalize the crib to her. It would make things so much easier.

1 comment:

Lorie said...

Great technique, but it doesn't work as well for adopted children who have a fear of abandonment. I'll pass on thanking you later.