Milestone Achieved

Rebekah has achieved a new milestone this week. I started at nap time last Friday putting her in her crib awake and then I sat in the doorway and read until she went to sleep. Sean camped out Friday night in the hall with Nathan's flashlight/lantern he got for his birthday (thanks Tyler) for an HOUR until she fell asleep.

I know you may wonder why we had to go through this. Sum it up to bad parenting--but we knew we were being bad parents at the time. We knew it was our last baby and she would always fall asleep on us. It's so comforting to snuggle a warm little person and just hold them while they sleep, therefore we never broke ourselves.

Lately, Rebekah has been a pill at bedtime and can't get comfortable on us. We knew it was time and with some days off school, knew if she screamed all night that the boys could sleep in.

Funny thing happened on the way to the "Cry it out" method. She just laid down after nap/bedtime on Friday and hardly even fusses. We insist she takes two of her babies (can be dolls or stuffed animals) to bed with her and we put one on either side. She now has a water cup in her bed (like big brothers do) so that's a hot item. With a baby on each side, she MUST lay down so the babies can be covered by her blanket. She's such a good mommy to her babies and doesn't want them to be cold so she'll lay down and make sure they have covers. We leave and that's usually the end of it. Sometimes a Mommy or Daddy tossed out--but we just tell her, "Goodnight, Rebekah," and won't go back in the room.

Here's a picture of my successful sleeper. What a big girl!