(edit: I just realised that some of this is a duplicate of what Deb wrote earlier. But you haven't heard it from me, so there! :-) )
Over the past months, Aria and I got into a ritual. I would walk her up and down the hallway until she fell asleep. It was a fun bonding time, where'd she coo, suck her thumb, snuggle into my arms, and eventually conk out. The only problem was that she started to expect that same treatment every time she stirred in the night. That's not on!
So we've started to be more scheduled and more deliberate about letting her put herself to sleep, and letting her fuss for an allotted period of time (5mins at a go) before checking in. And not picking her up, just settling her, and re-tucking her blankets, etc. Well, she's amazing!
The first time she cried for 20mins. We kept checking in and setting the stopwatch. But that was pretty much it. She settled and dropped off to sleep in a snap. Waaahn! Waaahn! Gasp. Gulp. Gone. And we haven't had to reset the stopwatch since!
She sleeps much harder, and can settle herself in the night (we hear her cooing and talking, but she doesn't wail anymore -- much). She does it for naps too. All those nurses in the hospital 8 months ago were right -- she is a happy baby!
But we're sort of kicking ourselves for not starting this earlier. I'll just chalk it up to good bonding time with her, and ignore the many, many times that Deb's sleep was interrupted over the past while. Uh...thanks, Cutie! :-)
Oh, we lost track of when, but it was some time this month: Aria crossed the threshold of being out of the womb longer than she was in it. That's enough of a birthday, or milestone, or whatever to go get some celebratory gelato, right? Woohoo!
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Last night was the first time I told Carrie Ann, "no, you can't have my hair to hold onto for falling asleep." Her prompt response? "Betadane, give me you hair!" And since her new bed is right next to Bethany's, that worked fine, and they were both shortly asleep!
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