Sleepless Night

Oh good grief, that was a long night.

Generally, Olivia does fabulously in her "new" big girl bed.  She's a champ -- transitioned to it well and has gone to bed for naps and nighttime without much protest ever.  It's a wonderful blessing.  Honestly, one that I am so, so thankful for every day.

But, last night she was stuffy and it blew up in her/our faces.  Poor thing woke around midnight and wouldn't settle again until after 3.  Michael and I tag teamed, just like the days when she was a little tyke, and it helped, but it meant that neither of us has any quality sleep under our belts today.  What we realized early on was: we have no idea how to handle a "bad" night in a big girl bed.

None.

I've not done a lick of reading on the topic, so when she started screaming and crying, I didn't really know what to do.  The only nugget I held onto was "never get in the bed with the child."  So, for the most part, we didn't.  (Poor Michael had not heard this advice, so he thoughtfully tried (in the 2nd hour) to calm her that way and I kind of kicked him out.  Sorry, hun.)

So I spent a good part of last night very pregnant sitting on a super uncomfortable step stool next to her bed reassuring her that it's okay to go back to sleep.

Epic fail.

Finally, we gave up.  There's always that wall that parents hit (or at least, we do) when it comes to middle of the night antics.  Once we hit it, FEEL FREE TO CRY YOUR FACE OFF, KID.  We're listening in the other room, but not going to play along anymore.  Let the neglect begin.

Broke my heart to listen to, but damned if it didn't work.  Took about 15 minutes of theworldiscrumbling sobs and myemotionalpainwillrequireyearsoftherapy screams...and then silence.  Blessed silence.  It only left 2 more hours of sleep for us grownups, but it was an important lesson to learn for the next time.

Cry it out is our friend.