Bittersweet Dreams

The boy is growing up - fast. In addition to the constant five and six word sentences, and the barrage of questions about his surroundings, and the many, many mini battles concerning boundaries and limits in a day, he has started to show some signs of going to sleep on his own.

The real change has come at nap time. In the past at nap time, one of us would take up the generally melted-down Wiggle and put him in his bed, at which point we would leave the room and sit outside the door. We would also open the laundry room door against his door to blockade him in because otherwise he would endlessly come out. He would alternate between playing and trying to come out or lure us in, and then would melt down again for one or two minutes before he would fall asleep on the floor. This had been progressing to no melt downs, but still trying to get out, mixed with playing. But this week, I have taken him up, put him in his bed, given him a kiss, walked out, and then gone to my room down the hall. When I hear him open his door, I give a shout to go back in because it's nap time, and lo and behold, he has gone back in to quietly play. Today he was asleep in less than five minutes from when I put him in.  Wowza!

At night, things haven't progressed quite as much, but still they are coming along. While he still sometimes comes in for a few minutes in the middle of the night, he goes back into his bed with no trouble as soon as he falls back to sleep. As far as going to sleep, we have a good routine that works, but it relied on us being in the room with him until he falls asleep, generally with me rubbing his back or C snuggling him. Tonight, after the stories and songs and kisses, I said I was going to sit at the door while he went to sleep. He seemed to think that was fine and drifted off quietly within a few minutes.

Now, if we could only move his wake up time a little later in the morning...