Nighttime Proud

We have screwed up lots of things as parents.  There are things we encouraged or discouraged or didn't encourage or should have avoided or you name it, loads of things we could do differently if we started over.  But some things, we got right.

I was proud of my two- and three-year-old this weekend at my parent's house.   They slept in a different room from their own, on a separate floor from the other adults.  There was no night light in their room or noise making machine or gurgling bear or any of those other, "sleep aids" children can become dependent upon.

When it was time for bed, we changed them into their night night outfits, walked them into the bedroom with the twin beds and covered them up with one of their blankets we brought from home.  They have several blankets, I grabbed one for each but neither seemed to really care.    They didn't have, "lovies" or stuffed animals they needed to sooth themselves to sleep.   They didn't have pacifiers.   They have both learned how to calm themselves and quietly go to sleep when it's time to go to bed.

They didn't complain.  They didn't need to be rocked or sung to or have their backs rubbed until they fell asleep.   They know how to go to sleep without help.  They can sleep in quiet and they can sleep with a marching band in the next room.

This is not something that was easy.  It's been an iterative process to get them to this point, but I am very proud of them.  They are happy.  They aren't dependent on another person to go to sleep and sleep soundly.   I hope it serves them for the rest of their lives because it's important to be able to sleep when you need to.

The Big Boy Update:  My son came downstairs the other morning into our room and over to the bed.  When I looked up at him he asked, "mommy, can I open my present from Santa Claus?"  We don't make much of a deal about Santa in our house, although he's exposed to it via all the holiday media he sees.  We went out to the living room and looked around, but neither of us could find a present from Santa Claus.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Car-capades.  My daughter did not want to be in the car on our ride home from the mountains today.  She was cross, complained, intentionally got her foot stuck in the cup holder multiple times, demanded food, complained because it wasn't the food she wanted and then exclaimed she needed to go poop, "right now!" We stopped and she did.  Then, we got back in the car and she screamed about the window and how she wanted it up and then down and then the sun shade changed and then, suddenly, she was asleep.   Sometimes that's how it goes with children.