Mama needs her sleep

Ok, if you're all about how evil and horrid stuff like Ferber and "crying-it-out" is than just consider this an entry to skip.

Last night was a breaking point. My formally good sleeper got into a very bad habit over the last few days. A very bad habit that was just physically impossible to humor another night. Miss Thing became unable to sleep ANYWHERE BUT on a body. Yes I said ON a body. She'd not sleep in her crib. She'd not sleep in a car seat or a swing or in a bed NEAR a body. She had to sleep on one of us. And that means we don't sleep. At least not more than maybe 3-4 hours a night of broken sleep.

And so last night it came to an end.

And it was an easy end. A much easier than end that I think either B or I expected. We put her in and she fussed. She was quiet. She woke up complaining - not crying mind you, just yelling. Its what she does when she's pissed off. She yells. Loudly. We took turns going in, we rubbed her belly and whispered lovingly to her. We turned on her musical fish tank. We handed her her small stuffed frog toy that she sometimes plays with before drifting off for a nap.

She yelled a little more and then she fell asleep. She woke and yelled and then stopped to hum to her music. And then to talk to her frog. And then she slept. She slept and she slept and she slept. ALL freakin' night just like she has been fully capable of doing despite the fact that she had stopped doing it. It took less than an hour total and most of that was without her crying.

I know this is not the end. I know that tonight may be worse. I know that even if tonight isn't worse we could revisist the whole issue later - like when she figures out how to stand in her crib by herself and does so ALL night long refusing to lay down and go to sleep until she falls to sleep on her feet like her brother once did.

Regardless, today I am well rested, at least well rested compared to the day before when I was lucky to have slept at all. Today I feel content knowing that she's learning the valuable skill of being able to soothe herself to sleep (something she actually often does at nap time but not so very much at night). I feel happy knowing that we're laying the groundwork for future of mostly fight-free bedtime routines. I feel relieved it wasn't as bad as it could have been. And I feel dug in - ready to keep working and helping her learn.